Strands of Night
by Xagarath Ankor
Summary: After SA1, Sonic is taking a holiday. However, something has arrived on Earth, and it has but one purpose: destruction. As a wave of darkness begins to sweep over the continent, the only hope lies at the heart of the horror... (*HUGE* update! Up to 21!)
1. Prologue

The beam of the moon was blanketed that night. Wisps of freezing vapour had been woven by the winds into towering constructs, dark clouds that covered the island. The sea, gleaming blue by day, became grey and lifeless. The golden beaches were dulled, and the bright green fronds of the palm trees were blackened. Shadows were born in the hollows and dips of the bay and grew quickly. The darkness of the cloud seemed to corrupt the island paradise, the air growing chill and whispers of wind lurking in the corners of hearing.  
  
Then the cloud passed, and the moonlight seared down, removing the taint of shadow. The landscape brightened and the shadows shrivelled, the whispers fading to inaudibility. All was peaceful again.  
  
Once more, a cloud slid over the lunar disc, this time darker, until sight died completely. The whispering of the breeze intensified once more, and the palm trees rustled. Another sound broke through.  
  
Bubbling sounds. The shadows obscured all vision, but something was emerging from the waters. Splashing sounds as it breached the shallows, then the crunch of heavy impacts on sand. A sudden cracking, tearing noise, and then the grass muting the sounds until they faded.  
  
The moon broke through again, and vision returned. The tide washed up the beach, obliterating all traces. Only one palm tree, splintered and crushed by a gigantic weight, bore the memory of the things passage. Beyond it, the firmer soil had proved more resilient, marred only by crushed grass.  
  
The shattered palm might arouse comment, but the incident would be forgotten. As Cassandra in Troy, so would the prophecy of nature pass unnoticed, until it was too late.  
  
Within the mists of the stratosphere, the awareness awoke. The blankness that had clouded its mind was replaced by the swirling patterns of the clouds, their energies detected rather than seen. For hours it studied the endless movements, each image fading into a blur within its mind. It detected, within the balance, interference. From....... below.  
  
New ideas woke, directions and spatial perception. It focused around it, turning the camera of its mind towards the ground. It saw the crackling web of energy, of trapped minds within dead shells, spread across the landscape. It saw the centre, a flame of power within a steel construction, pointing at the sky. It saw the patterns around it, the harmony, twisted and shaped by the force emanating from the fortress.  
  
Another shape arose in the awareness, a shape of thought. Now it knew hate, hated the thing that disrupted its private world in the clouds. It reached downwards, feeling the friction as it shaped a claw to crush its tormenter, feeling the tiny awareness ruling the citadel. The claw closed. 


	2. Chapter 1: Tainted

A sickly sun rose over Station Square. Dull-grey fumes coated the sky, their shield reducing the dawn to a dim globe, barely visible through the smog. The wind carried more, the black smoke rolling in from a point over the horizon. Although the light revealed little, it showed enough.  
  
Spread over the beaches were the wave-tossed lines of dark, sticky oil. Fish lay rotting in its grip, birds struggling to free themselves, growing weaker with the daylight. The stench of death covered the bay. The true horror, though, lay beyond the once-golden sands.  
  
The sea was black, black with chemicals and still more oil. What debris that floated to the surface was half-dissolved, as if by some acid.  
  
Slowly, the city awoke, to see the poison that had come overnight. The smog and fumes reduced what few citizens that ventured outside to helpless coughing.  
  
After only a few hours, the decision was made to evacuate. Despite much speculation, the cause of the disaster was unknown to any. Claims rocketed that it was another plot of Eggman's, that an experiment had gone wrong, and other such wild theories.  
  
These paranoid claims had only one thing in common. They were all completely wrong.  
  
Outside the city, smoke still veiled the sun. The streams running through the fields and trees were black with chemicals and filled with dead fish. The grass was splattered with oil, and the trees were already sickly from the poisonous atmosphere. The beaches and seas were still polluted for miles around.  
  
There was no escape from the poison that way. Trains were considered, but reports told that the Mystic Ruins had not escaped the clouds of toxin and filth. The only way out was by sea.  
  
Engines had jammed or become damaged from the chemicals filling the water. New boats had to be constructed, and launched from up the coast where the sea was purer. It would take days of work, and the fumes slowed and weakened the citizens.  
  
Huge liners were dragged out of forgotten docks and transported by whole convoys of vehicles. Masks were issued to shield the workers from the poison. The grinding toil continued, with little rest.  
  
After a week in the nightmare, Station Square was evacuated, a vast array of ships sailing towards Westside island, where they might find help and shelter.  
  
Still the cause remained unknown, and none remained to trace it. No-one had tried to trace the smoke to its source, at the heart of the continent.  
  
No-one, that was, but the few who lived outside Station Square.  
  
"Sonic! Come and look at this!"  
  
Tails' voice broke through Sonic's doze as he lay inside the Tornado hanger in Mystic Ruins.  
  
"What is it, Tails?" he yelled back irritably.  
  
"There's this smoke... it's turned the sky black! I can't see the sun!"  
  
"Must be some new trick of Eggman's." Sonic muttered as he emerged from the building. "Not only is he trying to take over the world, he now wants to stop me sunbathing..."  
  
"Er... Sonic... Shouldn't we do something about this?"  
  
"OK, but what do you suggest we do? Any ideas?"  
  
Tails began talking to himself as he ran through possibilities.  
  
"We could take the tornado... no... the smoke would obscure vision... no use walking through that stuff... trains will be out of action... you got any ideas Sonic?"  
  
Sonic tried to think of something, but was beginning to get hungry.  
  
"We could get something to eat?"  
  
"The chilli dogs got covered with that goo as well, Sonic."  
  
Sonic began to see red, despite the black clouds filling the air.  
  
"That does it.... we're going to get Eggman for this!"  
  
He took off, legs a blur, speeding down the hillside towards the edge of the ruins. Tails stared incredulously for a second then started off after him. Familiar words sprang in his throat:  
  
"Hey Sonic, wait for me!"  
  
As the two sped over the landscape, they began to see the full extent of the devastation. The trees were now in their last stages of life, the poisoned atmosphere proving too much for them. Nothing was left of the grass but a black, twisted mess. The smoke rose high into the sky.  
  
Suddenly, Tails ground to a halt.  
  
"Sonic!"  
  
"What is it now, Tails?" Sonic snapped out irritably, his patience reduced to nonexistance by hunger.  
  
"Look.... the smoke originates from a point just over the horizon."  
  
"Then that's where we're heading for?" Sonic demanded.  
  
"I think so..."  
  
"Ok, see you there" trailed back through the wind as Sonic sped off once more, Tails frantically trying to catch up again.  
  
Two streaks flew across the landscape, one blue, the other brown. Sonic led the way, leaping rocks and dodging trees. He skimmed across a stream, cursing inwardly the muck on his trainers. The dead grass smoked with his speed.  
  
Before them, the towering column of black smoke, its source growing ever nearer. The landscape became a blur, rotted trees and blackened rocks passing in a split second, leaving barely enough for the eye to register.  
  
As they approached the base of the cloud, the landscape began to change. grass was blackened and scorched, trees lay in splintered ruins of ash, and streams were dry. Sonic slowed to a stop.  
  
"What did this?"  
  
Tails arrived, panting, beside him.  
  
"It looks like everything has been burnt, exposed to some enormous heat."  
  
"As though there was an explosion here?" Sonic suggested.  
  
"That could be it... it would have to have been enormously powerful to cayse this much damage though."  
  
"Then let's keep going and find out."  
  
A few miles later, Sonic suddenly stopped again. Caught by surprise, Tails crashed into him.  
  
"Ow! What is it, Sonic?"  
  
"Look at this, Tails."  
  
Before them lay a sea of twisted metal, girders protruding from the ruins. Amongst the blackened metal was the occasional gleam of a destroyed badnik.  
  
Struck at last by realisation, Tails spoke, slowly, as if unable to take the reality in.  
  
"So this is what caused it. Eggman's fortress.... exploded." 


	3. Chapter 2: Reality

Tails was speaking faster now, as ideas formed in his head.  
  
"He must have been building a new fortress here.... some new plan... the explosion would have released the poison into air and water over a wide area.... it spread.... the devastation nearby was caused by the explosion as well..."  
  
"Must have been a really big one then," Sonic commented, leaning against a girder.  
  
"Yes... but there would have to be a tremendous amount of power to do that..."  
  
"Never mind that, what do we do about it?" asked Sonic impatiently. He was feeling hungry again.  
  
"I think we should find out what caused it first, Sonic."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"To stop it happening again."  
  
"But of course it won't happen again, Tails. The fortress has exploded. It can't explode twice." Sonic explained in an infuriatingly patronising tone.  
  
Tails sighed, realising once again that Sonic still thought of him as an innocent kid.  
  
"Sonic, I don't think the fortress exploded by accident."  
  
"I'd have thought Eggman was capable of anything."  
  
"This doesn't look like an explosion from inside, that would have scattered the debris. The fortress looks like it was crushed."  
  
"And you think that.... whatever did that might do it again to something else."  
  
Tails nodded. "That's right."  
  
Sonic began to examine the debris more closely.  
  
"Wait... there's huge tears in this sheet of metal. What did that?"  
  
Tails came and peered at it. "It looks like... some kind of giant claw mark."  
  
Suddenly, a thought struck Sonic. "Hey, what happened to Eggman?"  
  
"He was probably crushed with the rest of it."  
  
Something spoke behind them, a voice they knew only too well, filled with triumph.  
  
"Wrong, foxboy!"  
  
The duo spun round. Robotnik stood behind them in a mech walker, formed of his eggmobile with mechanical legs. Its guns were trained right at them.  
  
"Come to gloat, Sonic?" he sneered. "You may have destroyed my base, but I'll kill you despite it!"  
  
Tails turned to Sonic, a look of surprise on his face.  
  
"Sonic! He thinks WE-"  
  
Sonic cut Tails off in midsentence, his attention focused on the figure before him.  
  
"Still think ANYTHING of yours can beat me, Eggman?"  
  
Rage covered Robotnik's face, taking some time because of its size.  
  
"Prepare to die, Spikeball!"  
  
His cannons blazed, but Sonic dodged to the side, and spun at him. He bounced off, the walker shaking with the force of the impact.  
  
"Ha! You can't defeat me that easily, hedgehog."  
  
Robotnik pulled a lever. A blazing globe of light shot into the air and exploded, the shock throwing Sonic backwards.  
  
Sonic rose to his feet, shaking his head to clear the ringing noises. He span at Robotnik again, but was caught by a blast in midair.  
  
"Aargh!"  
  
"Got you, foolish hedgehog. Time to be rid of you at last!"  
  
Robotnik threw his head back and laughed manically.  
  
"Wait!"  
  
Tails voice broke through the battle. The combatants turned around to face him.  
  
"We didn't destroy your base, Eggman. It must have been something else."  
  
"Like I'll believe that!" the demented genius laughed. "Prepare to die- both of you!"  
  
The walker's cannons blazed again, tearing into the scorched soil. Sonic skidded out of the way, shaking his head to clear the ringing noises. He spun at the walker, but was forced to veer aside to dodge another blazing globe.  
  
"Not even you, Sonic, can stand against my power! Prepare to meet your fate!"  
  
Sonic was getting tired of Robotnik's gloating. He spun high into the air, and aimed a savage kick at the top part of the walker.  
  
The only effect was to hurt his foot.  
  
Robotnik rumbled forward, his sights tracking the blue blur. Smoke poured off the cannons as they fired again and again. The metal began to glow with the heat.  
  
"Bwahahahah! Soon, Spikeball, you'll run out of time! I will be victorious at las-"  
  
Robotnik's laughter was cut off abruptly as he realised that he had just pressed several buttons in his glee, among them the ejector seat.  
  
The top shot off the walker, blowing the demented scientist high into the air. A parachute shot out of his backpack, but tore under the weight.  
  
"Noooo! I'll get you for this, hedgehog...." Robotnik roared as he plummeted towards the wreckage of his fortress.  
  
With a sudden explosion, flame shot out of his backpack and a jetpack ignited. Robotnik's descent stopped abruptly.  
  
Without meaning to, the inventor found meglomania bubbling up in his throat.  
  
"You think you've won, hedgehog, but I have one weapon left, against which you-"  
  
Robotnik fought for control of his vocal chords.  
  
"Wait a second! I don't have another weapon! AARGH!"  
  
Managing to subdue his psychosis, he grabbed the controls of his jetpack.  
  
"Wait, Eggman!"  
  
Tails voice broke through his dementia.  
  
"I've been telling you, we didn't destroy your fortress! We're trying to find out who did!"  
  
Suspicion replaced the dementia. Although he rationalised that the horror which had crushed his citadel couldn't be the work of Sonic, he had no idea why he should want to help them.  
  
Sonic was equally suspicious.  
  
"You gone loony, Tails? We couldn't trust Eggman to walk in a straight line!"  
  
Tails gathered his patience  
  
"Sonic, Eggman might have seen what destroyed his base. We don't have any idea."  
  
He looked up at the hovering psychotic.  
  
"Do you know anything about it, Eggman?"  
  
"Why should I tell you, foxboy?" Robotnik snarled.  
  
"We want to stop whatever it was from destroying anything else..." Tails explained, summoning all his self-control to keep his voice steady.  
  
"I have no interest in the wellbeing of this miserable continent. The pollution should keep you occupied until I can rebuild once again." Robotnik gloated.  
  
He gripped the controls of his jetpack, and roared up into the smog-filled air. The glint of metal was swiftly lost in the gathering clouds. Only the voice echoed down as Robotnik's meglomania triumphed once more.  
  
"Until we meet again, spikeball!"  
  
Tails' shoulders slumped in defeat.  
  
"Oh well. It was worth a try." he sighed.  
  
Sonic was more confident.  
  
"It wasn't, Tails. Eggman would've turned on us at the first chance he got. We can't trust that lardball."  
  
"I suppose so" the fox muttered.  
  
"Anyway, what do you suggest we do now, Tails?"  
  
Sonic revved up, ready for action.  
  
"I haven't the faintest idea, Sonic."  
  
Sonic stopped, looking a little let-down, but he immediately perked up again.  
  
"In that case, buddy, I've got an idea...." 


	4. Chapter 3: Node

Tails doubted that he'd heard right. Sonic NEVER had ideas.  
  
"Er.... and just what would that be, Sonic?"  
  
Sonic, looking smug, explained.  
  
"The way I see it, we haven't the faintest idea what did this, right?"  
  
Tails sighed again.  
  
"Go on..."  
  
"And Eggman, who might have some idea, has refused to help and run off, right?"  
  
Tails nodded glumly.  
  
"And any of his computers that might have recorded it were destroyed in the explosion..."  
  
Tails grew impatient.  
  
"Yes, Sonic, but just WHAT are you getting at?"  
  
"Our solution is right... there."  
  
Sonic pointed at Robotnik's walker.  
  
"The one computer that wasn't destroyed, Tails! It'll have a record of whatever Eggman saw!"  
  
Tails stared at Sonic in disbelief.  
  
"The question is: can you decode it, Tails?"  
  
"I- I suppose so, Sonic."  
  
Still feeling faint, Tails scrambled up inside the walker and located a keyboard and monitor.  
  
"Hmmm... 'enter password', try 'spikeball'.... nope, try 'Robotnik'.... not that either, try...."  
  
"How about 'emerald', Tails?" Sonic suggested.  
  
Tails tapped it in. "Hey.... it works!" He spun round to face the hedgehog. "How did you know that, Sonic?"  
  
"Just... a lucky guess, I suppose." replied Sonic, his eyes shining in triumph.  
  
"Right... anyway, let's see what we've got here."  
  
Tails typed away, searching through the mounds of meglomania.  
  
Suddenly, he stopped.  
  
"What the-"  
  
Sonic appeared behind him. "What is it, Tails? What've you found?"  
  
Tails pointed at the screen.  
  
"This is a camera recording from the day before the pollution hit us."  
  
He pressed a key and a blurred picture sprang onto the monitor. It showed the mechanical citadel, swarming with robots.  
  
Sonic was getting impatient.  
  
"I don't see anything, Tails. What's this supposed to be?"  
  
Suddenly, a wave of distorted sound erupted from the battered speakers. The tearing of metal was just audible through the interference.  
  
The screen showed rents and tears appearing in the walls of the citadel, buildings buckling and collapsing, explosions and fires breaking out.  
  
A puzzled expression crossed Sonic's face.  
  
"That must be Eggman's citadel blowing up, but what's doing it? I don't see anything..."  
  
"I can't see anything doing it either, Sonic. As far as I know, nothing is doing it..."  
  
The blue hedgehog looked apprehensive.  
  
"Whoa. That's creepy."  
  
"It must have been some kind of psychic force or invisible being-"  
  
Tails' next words were drowned out by the roar of an explosion form the speakers as the screen went white.  
  
"So we still don't know what did it, Tails?" demanded Sonic.  
  
Tails tried to look determined.  
  
"No, but we're going to find out..."  
  
The clouds, above the world, a morass of drifting shapes and swirls of mist. Images spawned and destroyed by the second, eyes barely registering the masterpiece before its destruction. Emptiness, a void of fog and air, filled now by am awareness.  
  
A true awareness it had become, absorbing and noting its surroundings. The distortion from below gone, it was free from distractions, free to think and plan.  
  
A sound impinged upon its meditation, and a shape, materialising through the clouds. A round shape, the frail flame of a small jetpack struggling to support it. Another awareness within the shape, a minute awareness, but still another that could think as it did.  
  
It formed a tendril of thought, reaching out towards this other being, testing its mind to see what it contained.  
  
It found madness, dementia, meglomania, a cruel genius within. It thought upon this, adding it to its plans and calculations, working out how it might be of use.  
  
Finally, it "spoke" to the being.  
  
Robotnik, his mind filled with thoughts of vengeance, drove his jetpack onwards through the clouds. He devised numerous strategies, subsequently rejecting them, but including within each a particularly horrific death for the Spikeball, Fox and whatever it was that had destroyed his citadel. His plans were shattered by an intruding thought.  
  
"What do you call yourself, creature?" The demented genius glared angrily back at the clouds.  
  
"I am Dr Robotnik!"  
  
His voice seemed to dissipate into the vastness of the atmosphere. Another thought slid into his mind.  
  
"Why have you disturbed my thoughts?"  
  
Before he could stop it, Robtnik found a playback of the recent events running through his mind, triggered by the question. The consciousness absorbed it instantly.  
  
"So... you were fleeing..."  
  
Robotnik bristled with indignation.  
  
"I was making a tactical retreat! Circumstances necessitated that I withdraw to think up a suitable strategy."  
  
A faint tinge of amusement form the other awareness.  
  
"You were fleeing, fleeing because-"  
  
It paused, looking over the knowledge it had absorbed, then continued with mild surprise:  
  
"because your base was destroyed?"  
  
Irritation overtook the previous amusement.  
  
"You! You built that structure that disturbed me before, that i had to crush."  
  
Robotnik's vision turned crimson.  
  
"You destroyed my base! My citadel! I'll crush you, you miserable little-"  
  
Amusement filled the voice once again.  
  
"And just how do you plan to do that?"  
  
Robotnik fell silent as the realisation of his situation crept over him. The voice continued its telepathic communication.  
  
"I have no more time for such idle thoughts. My plan has been formed, and must now go forward."  
  
Alarm filled Robotnik's mind.  
  
"What plan?"  
  
A mental chuckle replied.  
  
"Listen..." 


	5. Chapter 4: Incarnate

The thoughts echoed on through the clouds, clarifying, explaining, revealing. Slowly, Robotnik felt himself begin to understand, to grasp the edge of the inhuman concept. With the understanding came suspicion:  
  
"Why are you telling me this?"  
  
The voice, still amused:  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" A pause, then: "Obviously not. I wish you to help me..."  
  
"How?" demanded Robotnik, growing more suspicious by the second.  
  
The reply, when it came, was slightly irritated:  
  
"Clear the wreckage of your fortress, then..."  
  
Below, Tails was still staring at the blank screen of the walker.  
  
"Come on, Tails, there's nothing else here!" came an impatient shout.  
  
The fox lifted his head and stared blankly around the wreckage.  
  
"I suppose you're right, Sonic..."  
  
"'Course I am. Let's try and find somewhere that's free of this muck and relax."  
  
"Sonic, we still need to find out what caused this."  
  
"Who cares? Eggman's had lots of fortresses blown up before, another one won't do any harm. We've been wasting our time. Let's head to Station square or something instead."  
  
Normally, Tails might have argued, but he was tired from the run, and the prospect of a rest was looking attractive.  
  
"Ok, Sonic. the smog should have cleared enough to fly the Tornado from the Mystic Ruins."  
  
The pair revved up and disappeared rapidly over the horizon, Tails urging his aching muscles to one last effort. Behind them, a light began to shine through the clouds as Robotnik descended. Laughing manically, he jetted to his walker and started it up, heading for the nearest girder. After clearing the wreckage from a patch of ground, he began to prepare for the next part of his instructions. Robotnik extended the walker's right arm, using its tip to scratch a rough circle in the blackened soil. He then reached into a pocket, withdrawing the seven thin black crystals that the entity had given him. Once again using the claw of the walker, he placed them at equidistant points around the circle, then connected them with lines to form a geometric shape. Reaching into his pockets again he withdrew a spherical object wrapped into black cloth. The cloth seemed to contain a darkness beyond the human spectrum of vision, an blackness crawling from within to darken the folds and creases. The walker placed it in the centre of the design, Robotnik being careful not to disturb the cloth. He moved the walker a short distance away and waited.  
  
Slowly, the cloth began to deteriorate, crumbling away and collapsing until a pile of black dust remained. The faint hiss of its passing echoed through the wreckage. Within the circle of dust stood a perfect sphere, totally black, absorbing all light that touched it. An aura of darkness began to surround it, growing soundlessly until it had engulfed the crystals.  
  
The light began to fade, the sun sinking below the horizon. and as it fell, the spherical cloud grew, still retaining its shape.  
  
The sun vanished, heralding the onset of twilight. The word seemed to echo through Robotnik's brain as soon as the thought came to him, whispering incessantly until his head seemed ready to implode. This being no unfamiliar sensation for a madman, he simply ignored, concentrating instead on the cloud before him.  
  
The last of the light left the sky, and with it the cloud seemed to expand to gigantic size. I hung in the air for a few mere seconds, then began to dissolve, revealing what it had created.  
  
Meanwhile, two shapes raced towards the Mystic Ruins. At least, one shape raced, while the other tried to catch his breath.  
  
"Sonic... could... we... stop... for... a... moment... please?"  
  
The blue hedgehog screeched to a halt just short of a tree.  
  
"What is it, Tails? You ok?"  
  
"I... think... the... warranty... on... my... lungs... just... ran... out."  
  
"Ok, we'll wait for a sec while you recover..."  
  
Sonic looked around impatiently at the blackened foliage while the sounds of laboured breathing behind him began to decrease in volume. He looked forward to getting away from this "dump" (as he referred to it) and taking a holiday at Station Square.  
  
"I think I can manage now, Sonic."  
  
"Let's get going, then." replied Sonic, subduing his irritation.  
  
The two started off again, Tails labouring valiantly to try to keep up.  
  
Back at the Mystic Ruins, Tails wheeled the Tornado out while Sonic stared at the sky.  
  
"Think it's ok to fly now, Tails?"  
  
"The smog's probably cleared enough now. We'll be able to see where we're going."  
  
Sonic leapt on top of the plane while Tails started the engine. A roar echoed through the area as the propeller started to spin.  
  
"Contact!" yelled Tails, then felt extremely stupid for doing so.  
  
The palm trees that Sonic was convinced Tails had plagiarised from somewhere began to fold down as the plane shot forward. The smog seemed to part as it took off, heading for Station Square. Robotnik watched the sphere slowly dissipate as the silhouette within began to show through the dusk. The shape was completely unfamiliar to him, utterly alien. However, he could sense the power inherent within it. Meglomania bubbled up into him once more as he contemplated power that nearly equalled his wildest dreams.  
  
The voice of the entity shattered his gloating. It sounded contemplative, thoughtful, its full attention not focused upon him but on its creation.  
  
"It... is done. Behold, the seed of the node... of darkness. With it.... ah, yes, with it... I shall be able to manifest myself fully."  
  
A tearing, twisting noise came from within the organic structure. It began to expand, spires and loops branching out, patches growing into towering walls, arches and gaping slits opening.  
  
The whole resembled a fortress, but one that was unlike any human creation. The size of a large building now, it stopped its internal construction, and shifted slightly, loops curving inwards to create a denser form.  
  
The complete edifice seemed to shimmer slightly lines of force flowing outwards from it over the wreckage, and then it melted and moulded into another shape, as did the ground around it.  
  
Where there had stood an alien fortress, there now was a house. A fairly luxurious, Edwardian construction, surrounded by extensive gardens that replaced the immediate wreckage. This seemed so utterly ludicrous that Robotnik burst out laughing, until the voice froze him once again.  
  
"I would not advise you to mock it, for it is more than it seems. You could say-" (a mental chuckle) "-you could say it comes alive at night..."  
  
As the understanding was placed within his mind, Robotnik broke out into maniacal laughter once more. 


	6. Chapter 5: Interval

Once again the clouds, blackened by smog and filth, beheld a shape materialise through their veil. The Tornado tore up through the air, the trajectory carrying it in the direction of Station Square.  
  
Shivering on the wings, Sonic was becoming impatient again.  
  
"How far have we come now, Tails?"  
  
Tails sighed as he heard the question for the sixteenth time.  
  
"We've covered most of the distance now. In a few minutes we should be able to see the place."  
  
"Right..." Sonic muttered. "Just make it quick, I'm freezing to death up here..."  
  
The course of the plane began to level out, climbing less steeply.  
  
"Why do we have to go so high, anyway?" Sonic complained.  
  
"We need to fly above the remnants of the pollution or it might clog our engines."  
  
Tails pushed the stick forwards as he replied, steering the Tornado into a downwards course.  
  
The clouds parted as the wind of the plane's passing hit them, opening up to reveal the landscape below.  
  
Tails forgot about steering the plane and simply stared. Even Sonic's complaints stopped briefly.  
  
The pale, stilted sun revealed the buildings of the city covered in filth, their tops black and dank. The grass and trees were dead, their sickly yellow blending in with the general picture of decay. The streets were coated in oil, the cars rusting at the sides.  
  
Finally, Sonic broke the silence.  
  
"I thought you said Station Square was too far away to be hit by the pollution, Tails."  
  
"I thought it was, Sonic" Tails replied glumly.  
  
"Where is everyone, anyway?" the hedgehog demanded. "They can't all be dead or something, can they?"  
  
"I think they must have evacuated the city. There's no sign of any bodies, and a lot of ships are missing from the harbour. They must have headed to-"  
  
"-one of the islands!" Sonic broke in, working it out at last. Tails nodded.  
  
"The islands will have been too far out to be hit by the pollution."  
  
"Which island d'you think they went to, Tails?"  
  
"Can't be South island, only the ruins of the Scrap Brain there, Angel island they don't even know about, Carnival Island is pretty much deserted now..."  
  
"Then that leaves Westside island, right? We'd better head there."  
  
Tails looked worried.  
  
"I would, only we seem to be nearly out of fuel..."  
  
"You mean we'll have to find some in that mess?" Sonic demanded. "No way am I going down there! Why can't we just go for a holiday down the coast, or something?"  
  
"That'd be polluted too, Sonic..."  
  
Sonic sighed, gloomily anticipating what the muck would do to his shoes.  
  
"Ok, I suppose we'd better do it."  
  
Tails nodded again and pushed the stick forwards, easing the plane down towards a suitable grassy area.  
  
"Right Tails, I'll get started while you land the Tornado."  
  
Tails looked round in puzzlement at sonic, who grinned and leapt off the plane.  
  
"Sonic! Come ba- oh never mind, I'll just have to catch him up again..." Tails muttered.  
  
Sonic hit the road with a thud, nearly skidding on the slime that coated it. He revved up and headed towards where he remembered the helipad to be, trying to control himself on the slippery surface. He ducked underneath the tangled remains of scaffolding, banging his head in the process.  
  
"This place is a mess!"  
  
Past a row of battered houses, their windows rendered opaque by pollution.  
  
"There won't be any clean water for miles- how am I supposed to clean this gunk off my spikes?"  
  
Sonic caught sight of his reflection in a piece of grimy glass. His fur looked completely black from muck, and the top of his head was streaked with some red paint from the fallen scaffolding.  
  
"Great. Now I look like a total weirdo."  
  
Sliding onwards through the streets as though he was on skates, he headed towards the other side of the city.  
  
Tails eased the plane towards the grassy strip, and touched down. The plane kept moving forward, heading towards the road.  
  
"Drat- this grass is coated with oil!"  
  
Wrestling frantically with the controls, he managed to run the plane to the left, but failed to stop it. It slithered forwards on oil coated wheels and hit a wall.  
  
"At least that stopped it." Tails speculated. "Doesn't look like there's any permanent damage..."  
  
He looked around the muck smeared vista.  
  
"Sonic had better hurry up with that fuel..." Slipping down yet another filth-strewn street, Sonic narrowly avoided crashing into a van at the far end. He slid into a right turn, shooting into yet another identical-looking road.  
  
"Hmm... the houses are beginning to thin out now. I must be near the suburbs. Bet there's no clean water there either."  
  
The red streaks on his spines had vanished, covered by yet more oil and muck. His shoes were as black as the rest of him, and were probably unsalvageable.  
  
"I'll have to go buy a new pair after all this is over." He muttered to himself. "Maybe a different style- something a bit bulkier..."  
  
Absorbed in these reflections, he nearly collided with a red and white pole across the road.  
  
"Aargh! Why'd I volunteer to do-"  
  
Sonic suddenly broke off in mid-complaint as he caught sight of the buildings and open spaces past the barrier.  
  
"The airbase. About time!"  
  
He headed towards the nearest place, looking for a bathroom.  
  
Tails was growing rapidly more depressed by the view.  
  
"The oil on the streets must be slowing Sonic down, unless he spotted a burger bar or something."  
  
He wandered over to the front of the tornado and levered it open, checking again for damage.  
  
"I shouldn't have let him leave me behind again..."  
  
Robotnik finally grew bored of cackling manically.  
  
"So... what do we do now?"  
  
The entity replied in an irritatingly patient tone, as though it were explaining things to a child rather than a genius.  
  
"We need to attract a few sightseers. We can use them to provide the catalyst to start the process we need."  
  
"And how do I attract them?" demanded Robotnik irritably. "I'm an evil genius, not a tourist attraction."  
  
"That might be debated... but never mind that now. A few simple rumours should do it. I'm sure you'll be up to the task..."  
  
"What sort of rumours do you recommend?" inquired Robotnik sarcastically.  
  
"Buried treasure or something. Why should I attend to such petty details?"  
  
"I don't have any means of travelling. That Spikeball damaged my Walker's jets!" Robotnik shouted, his temper gaining ground.  
  
"Oh very well, I'll deal with it." replied the entity irritably.  
  
A ray of darkness shot out from the house to the walker, covering it in a black cloud. The structure began to shift shape, twisting and growing. When the darkness cleared, the walker was completely black, and had strange protrusions affixed to the front.  
  
"I made a few improvements. I would now recommend that you get moving. You will find the population of the nearby city on the island you call Westside."  
  
Robotnik walked over to the walker and heaved himself back into it. The jets beneath ignited and the arms and legs folded in, forming the Eggomatic. He took off, heading for the metropolis of Westside island. 


	7. Chapter 6: Discovery

The pale sun began to set over Station Square, its blanketed rays casting a greenish tinge over the underside of the dark layers of cloud that still hung iver the deserted city as a sentence of doom. As the shadows began to reach across the streets to clutch at the filth-coated buildings on the other sides and the light faded to a drak blue tainted with balck, a coughing noise broke the dead silence, echoing through the murky spaces of the centre. It began to grow in volume, clawing up to the roar of an engine. The shadows in a square filled with dead grass shifted, their stasis shattered. A red shape became vivible, parting from the ground. Smog parted before its passage as the Tornado, now refueled, took to the air.  
  
"What took you so long, Sonic?" demanded Tails above the noise of the engine.  
  
"I was, uh, delayed by the pollution. I couldn't keep my grip on the road." the blue hedgehog explained.  
  
"Then how are you so clean?" yelled Tails.  
  
The din from the engine drowned out Sonic's reply as the plane banked to the left, aiming for the heart of Westside Island.  
  
Miles away and higher in the cluds flew Robotnik's walker. Bright lights began to appear on the Horizon, glaring into the cockpit. The insane inventor muttered irritably and pressed a switch in front of him. The glass darkened, shielding his eyes.  
  
Their courses converging, the two machines drew nearer to the capital of the island. The darkened surface of the sea gave way to the grass and trees of the emerald hills, rendered black by nightfall. The blaze of light that was the casinos passed beneath, as did the peaks of the island's only major hill range.  
  
Finally, the towering shadows and glinting light of the Metropolis appeared on the horizon. The two craft approached from opposite sides, each unaware of the presence of the other.  
  
Tails circled the city, looking for a landing spot. The bright orange lights of a block of flats illuminated an empty strip of road, on the outskirts of the city. He pushed the stick forwards gently, easing the plane down towards the tarmac.  
  
Lights suddenly gleamed on the side of the plane as a pink car shot out of a side street. Tails franmtically yanked the stick backwards, throwing an unprepared Sonic to the rear of the cockpit as the Tornado swung upwards, just clearing the car.  
  
"Ow! What are you playing at, Tails?"  
  
Concentrating entirely on flying, Tails pushed the stick forwards again, bringing the plane down onto the road. He swung it around as it landed, bringing it to a stop facing the car, which had braked to a halt.  
  
The door of the car swung open, and a spiked silhouette emerged.  
  
"WHAT DO YOU-"  
  
There was a apuse in the yell of outrage as realisation kicked in.  
  
"-SONIC?!!!"  
  
"Aw, no! I'm not here!" Sonic whispered urgently from the cockpit.  
  
The nearby streetlamp revealed the pink figure of Amy Rose.  
  
On the other side of the city, a round shape descended, balancing on a small flame. It landed in a circle of scorched grass, causing a cat to flee into the shadows. Robotnik clambered out of his walker. As a gust of wind rattled the inevitable dustbins in the alley, he reached into his suit and brought out scraps of paper, which he released into the wind. This done, he heaved himself back in again befoe taking off.  
  
As the walker vanished into the clouds, the scraps of paper blew on, shooting out into the nearby street. Amy looked around, a puzzled expression materialising on her face.  
  
"Tails? Where's Sonic?"  
  
Thinking frantically but to no result, Tails began to babble an excuse,  
  
"He's er... gone on holiday in the Mystic Ruins", reflecting that that was, at least, true, if misleading.  
  
"Then why are you here? Wouldn't you be with Sonic or something?"  
  
"I... came to tell people that the fumes have cleared around Station Square", and that was partly true as well.  
  
Amy clapped her hands together, looking delighted.  
  
"You mean it's safe to go back?"  
  
"Well, there's till a lot of gunk around,"  
  
"I'll wait till they've cleaned it up again, then."  
  
"-but the air isn't poisonous anymore." After all, what else could have caused the evacuation? Tails felt slightly smug at his guesses.  
  
Sonic cowered in the back of the cockpit, trying frantically against his nature to stay quiet and still. He shifted his cramped legs slightly, and promptly knocked something metallic, which produced a loud clanging noise in response.  
  
"Sonic?! He is in there, after all!"  
  
Amy dashed towards the Tornado. Sonic immediately hopped out and began to edge away.  
  
The winds, carrying the shadows with them, buffeted the scraps of paper, laden with Robotnik's bait, along the deserted streets. One caught against a lampost, wrapping round the lower part until it fell with the release of the air's passage. The rest spread out along the street, some drifting down to rest, others skittering on.  
  
Dawn in Metropolis, revealing the sun's devoted arson, the towering factories and plants bathed in the reflection of its power. The streets, scorched by light, clawing their way back to life with the emergence of the people. The scraps, coated with splattered ink, kicked by heedless feet until bourne aloft by curiosity. Their message then devoured, the mind transformed by excitement, with the exception of an old woman who mistook one for a crossword.  
  
A faintly desperate Sonic strode along the sidewalk, trailing a frantic Amy.  
  
"Where have you been, Sonic?"  
  
"Trying to have a holiday." Sonic muttered over his shoulder before turning an irritated face back to the street ahead of him.  
  
"So, Tails wasn't lying; but it doesn't matter now," mused Amy, basking in the shadow of her hero.  
  
That evening, six groups of hopefuls left Metropolis, departing Westside island for the heart of the continent. The Tornado also departed, with Amy clinging to a seat while Sonic burrowed into the back.  
  
"I really should rebuild this one of these days." Tails muttered, trying to concentrate in the crowded cockpit.  
  
Neon lights from the harbour glinted off the sea below, their pattern broken by the wake of the boats tearing through the water.  
  
High in the skies, the unnamed entity watched with satisfaction as the boats pointed towards the node it had forged. Words ran through its ethereal mind in an endless stream, a constant reminder of its goals, its self.  
  
"I am fear, I am the unknown. I am the shadow in the corner, the watcher behind the shuttered window, the grasp beneath the darkened water, the laughter beyond hearing. I am darkness, for I am or darkness. I am nightmares, horrors, the strands of night that linger in the day. I am... Darkling." 


	8. Chapter 7: Below

A street in Station Square in evening, faint remnants of the once all- coating oil worn into the road. Terraced houses, once more filled with their rightful occupants. A row of small shops, steel shutters on the windows displaying the wild curves of sprayed graffiti, tattered paper signs hanging from iron frames on the pavement outside, informing the passer-by, drawing attention to the establishments skulking behind them. Faint noises drifting on the wind from the life-filled centres of the city, far from the neighborhood. An unaesthetically square archway, set beneath a flat, steps dragging downwards to the station below. Voices carrying up, in dispute. The pale area before the platform beneath the silent street, shadows conflicting across its tiled surface. A short man dressed in dark, shabby clothing, with white, curled hair that looked older than the rest of him, holding a cigarette between his lips as he lounged against the curved wall; another person, so swathed in black rags it was impossible to see their face or hands, standing unmoving a little way out from the side, and two hedgehogs, one blue, one pink, both arguing. "Why don't you want me along?" Amy pleaded yet again, her voice beginning to degenerate to a whine. "I want to take care of some things by myself." Sonic replied irritably. "What'll you be doing?" Amy pressed. "Taking the holiday that I had interrupted." "Then let me come with you!" The 'please' Amy had meant to add stuck in her throat. 'No way!", Sonic meant to say, but it came out as a decisive "No!". He turned and walked beside the wall towards the platform, pausing when the white-haired guy blocked his path. Without a flicker of expression the guy stepped forward out of the way. Amy turned and stormed up the stairs. Sonic sighed inwardly and went to wait for the train to the Mystic Ruins, where he'd arranged to meet up with Tails again. Across the other side of the city, a train passing through the underground system, bringing brief light in its passage before the tunnels were swallowed by the darkness once more. Carriages with a few tired, silent passengers, the lights stretching down the ceiling flickering slightly through lack of maintenance. The driver's cramped cab up in front, its bored occupant following a routine from habit. The blankness coating his thoughts dulled his senses, delaying his awareness of the sound for a few seconds. Thudding, a regular beat, echoing through the artificial caves, faintly audible through the metal of the cab, a pattern of two beats followed by a slight gap, then repeating. "Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum." Coming through the driver's ears. As it grew slightly louder, he became aware of the vague direction, coming from ahead of the train. Worried, he squinted through faintly misted eyes at the track ahead in the glare of the lights. Louder still, coming through the tunnel, straight towards him. Panicked, he jammed on the brakes instinctively, hoping as the train began to slow. The noise was unignorable by now, impossible to shut out. As the lights parted the gloom ahead, a shadow, tall as the train, flickered across the driver's retina before he died. No movement within, the train screeched to a halt. Its lights gave their last flicker before fading completely. The following morning, in a flat on the other side of the city, Tails groaned and tried to lift his head off the table. Letting Sonic go on ahead to the Mystic Ruins while he redesigned the Tornado had seemed to be a good idea at the time, but it was leaving him short of sleep. A banging noise echoed up the stairs as someone indicated their presence outside the door. Tails groaned again, heaving himself up and noticing that he'd somehow managed to sleep with the radio left on. As he thudded lethargically down the stairs, the music changed. " We interrupt this program to bring you a special report. A train on the Station Square Underground-", but by that time, Tails was at the door and out of earshot. He tugged the door open to be confronted by a tired-looking Amy Rose. "Amy? I thought you were going with Sonic." "He didn't want me along." Amy sighed. It had taken her most of the night to trek across the city back to her flat, given that she'd stopped several times to squint into the darkened shop windows. "I'll give you a lift when I've finished with the work, if you want." Tails offered. Amy dragged herself up the stairs, nodding at the suggestion. As she reached the top, the babble of the radio suddenly caught her attention. "It appears that the train crash was caused by collision with a stationary train in the tunnels. This other train had been reported missing the night before, but officials failed to locate it in the minutes before the crash. The only explanation offered for the failure to detect the broken-down train by means of electronic monitoring was the apparent failure of all electrical devices on board, although the fire has reduced evidence of this. The explosion caused by the collision of the 11: 46-" "Oh no!" Amy squealed. Tails stared at her and she added frantically: "That was Sonic's train!" Within a world of metal and flame, Sonic dizzily awoke. The screech of brakes and tearing metal replayed through his mind as he opened his eyes to find himself lying in the smouldering wreckage of a train carriage. Levering himself to his feet with reluctant arms, he became aware of the pain and looked down at his scorched fur. He stumbled towards the twisted remains of the door, dragging it open and looking out along the track. "Oh, man- we crashed into another train!" He staggered out onto the side of the track, shaking his head to try and clear the ringing noises and wondering why that felt familiar. A scraping noise came from against the wall, behind him, and he swung round and immediately leapt towards what he saw, spinning as he did so. The robotic fly exploded, throwing him backwards. "A Badnik, down here? What's going on?" A bolt of energy hissed into the wall behind him, and without thinking he spun at the Buzzbomber hovering over the wreckage of the train. The explosion carried him over to the other side, just clearing the tangled metal. In the wall in front of him was a large hole, the edge surrounded with cracks. More faint scraping noises came from the depths, echoing off the sides of what looked like a crude tunnel. Sonic peered in, then jumped aside quickly as a mechanical head emerged. The Caterkiller crawled forward until his spinning form met its head, causing a third explosion to reverberate around the wreckage. "What'd Eggman want with the Station square railway?" Sonic wondered aloud. Curiosity driving him, he strode into the hole. 


	9. Chapter 8: Sight

Through the hole there was a solid wall of metallic noise. Sonic clapped his hands over his ears to try to shut it out, and managed to keep moving. He rounded a corner of the circular passage and was suddenly dazzled by the light. Before him, an immense cavern, filled with glare and noise. Mechanical manufacture filled every inch of it, conveyor belts, pistons, automated production lines and mechanical arms, all working on an array of brightly coloured metal parts. Badnik parts. "An underground factory!" Sonic exclaimed out loud, stating the blindingly obvious. "But why'd Eggman want to build one here? There must be loads of other places less conspicuous." The glare and the noise were beginning to get to him. He shut his eyes and tried to focus. i A world of two substances, one sucking the water from life, reducing matter to a wrinkled mass, clogging passages, hollows and lungs, pervading through shields of hole-filled cloth, fibrous wood, and loose-fit stone, grey stretches reflecting the sun's harshness across the lands; the other aflame with rage and hate, powering instinct to tear itself to fragments then falling from the rents, liquid crimson soaked into the soil; all forming a world of lifeless dust and life-filled blood./i "Wha-?" Sonic shook his head, trying to clear it. i A line of crags tearing up through the dreary plains, barren, colourless rock causing little blemish to the dull expanse, around a patch of ground, slightly darker through recent disturbance. Beneath the ineffective shadow of the stone, darker shadows played across its surface as figures moved jerkily. The faint noise of metal echoed against the rockface as toiling lines of bare-skinned, emaciated people, chained together, wearily banged crude picks against the immovable cliff. Other figures, their armour creating second suns in the hollow, stood upright, boredly scanning the rows./i Confusion roared through Sonic's mind as he managed to open his eyes again, to see factory instead of grey sand. "What. happened?" His puzzled thoughts were broken by a metallic screech as a newly produced badnik zoomed towards him. Letting instinct take over, he spun into it, feeling the explosion carry him high into the air as he angled towards the nearest conveyor belt. "Got to stop those machines." A piston shot down towards him, and he rolled out of the way as he hit the belt, before shooting up again towards the top of the device. The electronic box on the piston exploded as he slammed into it, the blast once again sending him towards the other machines further up the line. Barely thinking, he bounced from one to the next, leaving shattered metal behind him, until he finally hit the controls for the conveyor belt itself. With a whine of tortured metal, the entire production line ground to a halt. As Sonic finally hit the rock of the cavern floor, a grating noise caused him to turn in a daze. A long line of badniks faced him, pincers and guns following his position. He frantically tried to jump out of the way, only to be caught in mid-air by a yellow bolt of energy. The shock scorched through his fur, but the pain was ended as he crashed back down and blacked out. Metallic claws lifted him up and carried him into the darkness. i Huddled within a corner of the hollow, a cluster of tents, their colour matching the dust through either design or erosion, one larger than the others, the flap sealed to extrude the dust. One of the crudely- armoured guards walked nervously up to it, and spoke in the direction of the flap. "My lord!" A low, hissing voice replied, dulled little by the cloth, penetrating through. "What is it?" "We've uncovered. something." "Come in." spoken in tones that allowed for no disobedience or even the thought of it. The guard tugged the flap loose and stooped through the opening, being careful to seal it behind him. "Well. what have you found?" A black, box-shaped device stood upon a crude table, giving out electronic music. Music with vague themes, no lyrics, just short tunes that evoked landscapes other than the dust and rock. Beside it, sitting on a wooden stool, a figure swathed completely in black robes, its face only a shadow. "We've found a large slab buried beneath the sand, my lord. It looks as though it's covering the entrance to something." "Have you cleared all the sand from it yet?" "No, my lord. I came to you at once." "Correctly done, but now finish clearing it. Then inform me." "Yes, my lord" and the guard backed out of the tent, catching a glimpse through the flap before he closed it of the figure turning back towards the device, to listen to the strange tunes. To listen to memories./i As Amy listened in shock, the radio continued to elaborate. "An investigation of the missing train has now been carried out. According to initial examination, there seem to be no survivors. What is currently puzzling police is their failure to determine the cause of death in these bodies, as it doesn't seem to have been caused by the crash. We'll bring you more when the investigations are through." Amy turned to Tails, puzzlement overlaying the horror. "They can't mean that- the people in the missing train were already dead? It hadn't been that long since it went missing." Tails, still trying to clear the fog of sleep from his brain, found himself unable to concentrate on this. "I don't know. but we should try and find whether Sonic's okay. They haven't said anything about survivors from the other train yet." Panic spread once more across Amy's face. "I need to go and help Sonic!" With this, she began heading back down the stairs to the door. "Where are you going?" Tails yelled after her. "To the crash, of course!" came back to him as she dashed outside. "Amy, wait!" Tails shouted as loud as he could, immediately regretting it afterwards. Amy stopped and stood impatiently as he thudded down the stairs. "Why?" "Even if you can get onto the underground, they'll have the area cordoned off." "What do you think I should do, then?" Amy demanded, some irritation mingling with the panic in her voice. "I think I know another way we could get there, if I just get some stuff." "What? How?" "The sewers." 


	10. Chapter 9: Nightmare

iFor the second time that day, the guard approached the large tent, its grey sides worn by the biting dust carried aloft on savage winds. Once again, he spoke at it. "My lord! We've cleared the slab." Shuffling noises from within as the figure got to its feet, followed by the tent flap being thrown aside. Black-clad feet dug slightly into the dust from beneath the robes as the figure turned to seal the flap after it. It turned towards the excavations. A huddle of slaves stood around something on the ground, their picks rising and falling. They turned away, one of them pausing to kick sand over the object. The figure turned to the guard. "What was that?" "One of the slaves uncovered a devil skeleton, my lord. We ordered them to smash it as usual." "What about the slave who uncovered it?" "He touched it before he realised what it was, my lord, so of course the others insisted on killing him and leaving his corpse with it." "Superstitious beliefs." the figure said with disgust. "Get them to bury the thing properly, at least. You know what happens if we leave a devil above ground." "Yes, my lord." nodded the guard, before turning to shout the orders at a pair of slaves. "Well, where is this stone slab?" the figure's tone growing impatient. "Over here, my lord." The guard led the cloaked figure towards a slanted section of rock, at the base of the cliff. Set into the rock was a vast stone slab, several inches of thickness protruding from the face. Scratches surrounded the edges, as though frantic attempts had been made by faceless figures to open it in the past. "Stand back. I will open this myself." Nodding frantically, the guard withdrew. The figure drew back the sleeves of its robes, revealing gauntleted hands and armoured wrists. It moved its hands as if holding an object, and something began to appear between them. A glowing orb of energy hung suspended for a second, then shot forwards into the stone. Dust began to pour from the edges as the slab shifted, the slight hissing noise it created penetrating out across the site./i The famed beach of Station Square, faint splashes of black still staining the golden sand beneath the dead palms. A rivulet of pure water ran down towards the sea, its line tracing upwards to a wide metal pipe, its mouth filled with shadows. Fresh footmarks gradually sank into the sand beneath the erosion of water, their path towards the pipe being slowly obliterated. Voices echoed along the beach as figures became visible, moving from the café at the top. "Are you sure there's a sewer entrance off the beach?" Amy asked, looking at her shoes and then the water- logged sand with regret. "Why can't we just use the one in town?" "The way to most of the sewers from there is blocked off." Tails replied, walking towards the beach. "Anyway, the police will be all over the place after the crash. We don't want to attract attention." Amy sighed and followed him onto the soggy sand, trying to ignore her feet sinking into it. Ahead of them, shadows moved briefly within the mouth of the pipe, and then were still again. i The figure altered the pattern of its hands, half-clenching the fingers into fists. With a slight grating noise, the slab began to move outward, emerging from the dusty grasp of the cliff. A final flick of the wrists, and the slab parted fully from the rock, before sliding aside on air and falling to rest in the dust nearby. A cloud of swirling dust surrounded the opening as the ages-old air was freed. At a gesture from a gauntleted hand, a guard strode forwards to peer inside. Looking apprehensive, he turned around slowly. "Nothing, my lord." "As I suspected." The figure hissed. "Stand aside. I shall investigate myself." The guard stepped backwards as the robed figure brushed past him. It held up its hand, and a glowing point of light appeared, illuminating a small, square, empty room carved out of the solid rock, the floor immersed in dust. Leaving the light hanging in mid-air, the figure strode inside, stopping in the centre of the floor. It reached down and dug its hand into the dust, which came out holding something that glittered faintly. The guard at the entrance briefly glimpsed a tarnished metal ring, protrusions on either side, before the figure secreted it within its tunic. "I will now be returning to my tent. I am not to be distracted for ANY reason. Do you understand?" The guard nodded mutely. Back under canvas, the figure extracted the object from beneath its robes. Within its gauntleted grasp was a metal ring, a faint glitter showing through the tarnish, a winged protrusion on either side, and a bright fragment of ribbon clinging to the lower half. "The legends, were true, then, but how could they be false?" Unpleasant, sniggering laughter echoed faintly from the tent, drifting out across the campsite. "Soon. the hope will be embodied in our legends. Soon."/i Slowly, the echoing laughter was replaced by ringing noises, and the grey stretches by blackness. Images began to form, blurred through a mist of pain, and sensations wormed their way back into Sonic's consciousness. Wincing at the slight light, he opened his eyes fully, to see grey again, but metallic rather than dust, a wall, not a waste. "So, spikeball, at last you are in my power!" He managed to twist round. Robotnik, who had obviously been waiting for him to come to, glared manically from a large monitor that nearly covered a whole wall of what turned out to be a small cell. "You have once again tried to meddle in my plans, but now I-" Robotnik began to shout, but suddenly stopped and turned away as if in response to something. The voice of the entity once again cut through Robotnik's mind. "So, what you wished has now come to pass. Your factory, although damaged, will soon be operational again and producing an army to overwhelm the city. Your greatest enemy is at your mercy. Why delay his end with ranting?" "I need to demonstrate my triumph, my might-" "Pointless. Without my aid he wouldn't have been weakened enough for you to capture him. Regardless, what about your side?" A touch of irritation came into Robotnik's voice, to the puzzlement of the watching Sonic. "The machine is nearly ready. I will soon be ready to activate the robots, and do as you wished." "Excellent. Pray continue with your raving" Triumph once more crossed Robotnik's vast face as he turned back to the monitor. "And so, spikeball, I will soon be able to conquer the petty city above. Prepare to behold, in your last moments, the spectacle-" Sonic, who had had enough of this, cut across the mad inventor's ranting. "Why are you talking to yourself, Eggman? Sure you can cope with the strain of winning?" Suddenly spotting something on the side of the cell, he broke off. Triumph failed to be deposed in Robotnik's speech. "So! Even you admit your imminent defeat! Soon, I shall have conquered-" Interrupting yet again, Sonic unexpectedly spun forward at the screen, feeling it crack beneath his spines, and watching the image disappear with satifaction. Quickly, knowing he didn't have long before Robotnik sent some badniks to investigate, he ran at the ventilation grille near the ceiling, bursting through into the narrow metal shaft. A minute later, another grille in one of the tunnels of the underground also burst before a blue blur. Sonic shot out onto the track, the paused to try to collect his still-stunned thoughts. Try as he might to focus, he didn't seem quite able to. Gradually, he became aware of a faint noise at the edge of his hearing. A regular beat began to echo in the distance. "Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum." 


	11. Chapter 10: Oblivion

Sonic looked around slowly in puzzlement. Gradually, the noise became more audible, until he was able to pinpoint the direction. It seemed to be coming from up the tunnel, growing nearer and louder with every heartbeat. Suddenly filled with alarm, Sonic spun round and began to sprint up the tunnel, away from the noise, his eyes searching for a side tunnel. The prospect of getting hit by a train loomed uncomfortably in his mind. No matter how fast he ran, the noise still seemed to be getting nearer. "Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-DUM." Frantically, Sonic sped into full speed, dashing down the rails while still searching for a junction. No train could keep up with him, surely? "DA-DUM. DA-DUM. DA-DUM." The noise was pounding in his ears, echoing his heart, filling his thoughts. Desperately he rounded a corner and, seeing the welcome black gap of a side tunnel, dove for it. A tall black shadow flickered in the corner of his eye as he hit the perpendicular rails, and then a cloud of blackness seemed to clutch at his mind, drawing him down to oblivion. As the shadow passed, it left Sonic in its wake, lying still in the side tunnel. i The figure continued to talk to itself within its hood, drawing points together and forming plans left unspoken. "Passed down through the ages, despite the death of hope, the knowledge survived. Devil skeletons, the dust, the relic and the legend it summons. All true." Booted feet beneath the robes began to pace the length of the tent as the figure continued. "The legend.a symbol of the human mind. Despite our despair, our dreary, hate filled lives on this barren world, we create heroes, immortal in our minds. Those famed figures of antiquity that shaped a part of the world in their time are distorted between generations, become supernatural beings. The power of legends is belief, and that belief becomes truth." Another confident, sniggering laugh echoed from beneath the shadows of the hood. "And yet. this legend, our legend, was truth all along. The truth will draw us from darkness, draw them from despair. Those fools will have their ancestral dreams brought to being." A short, ironic laugh that embodied no humour failed to carry beyond the fabric walls. "I. I alone knew and know, holding on to fragments of memory, forgotten music that embodied the other world. Why has the hero of another sphere become the myth of this?" A final laugh, as the figure concluded its speech. "All shall be revealed. as the cliché has it."/i Far to the north of the continent, the grass and sand gave way to ice and snow. Few remnants of civilisation survived beneath the blizzard, and most attempts at re-establishing it were driven back by the cold, which pervaded every effort to keep it out. No life clung on in the snows, trees unable to live in the low temperatures, the snowswept forests that once had covered the pace long gone. Animal life, deprived of food and shelter, left or died. No-one had been able to determine the reason for the temperature drop in the area, to levels that would normally only be seen in arctic conditions. It was merely blamed on pollution, as were many other things. Thus, there were none to feel the ground shake slightly, to hear the grinding noises echo from the mountains once the sun had set. There were none to see the glaciers begin the move, at a far faster rate than science claimed they could. There were none to see the cold prepare to invade southwards. The natural order was nothing before the darkness, or so the Darkling thought to itself, its mind immersed in the skies above the icy mountains. i Guards standing outside the tent straightened up as the figure emerged. "We are finished here. Give the order to the overseers to prepare to leave." "Where for, lord?" "The ruins of the western citadel." The guards bowed in acknowledgement, before moving across the dusty ground towards the whip-wielding overseers. The figure turned away, and began to talk to itself once more. "There. there I must prepare the ritual. The talisman will open the gateway within itself." Lost in thought, it continued its contemplation until disturbed by the arrival of a guard. "My lord. we are ready to depart." "Then let us do so." With these words, the figure strode across to the rear of the hastily formed column of chained slaves and nodded at the guards. Whips raised towards the scorched sky before falling with a penetrating crack. With a jingling of tarnished metal, the column began to move, the figure striding along at the rear./i Amy hesitated again before the darkened entrance. "Are you sure this is the only way in? Really?" Tails groaned. "Yes, I am." Once again, he began to walk forward, and Amy did likewise after some hesitation. She winced as her feet met the half- dried green ooze that coated the patch of sand before the pipe. Then her vision was enclosed by blackness as she followed Tails into the mouth. A faint click, and a point of light appeared in Tails' hand. He swept the torch around, but revealed only the narrow tunnel leading beyond the circle of light. Turning it to illuminate the floor, he revealed only a thin coating of slime. Above them, faint imprints marred the filth on the roof of the pipe. At last, Tails heard the echoes of their footsteps change, indicating a larger area ahead. A few steps more, and the torch beam illuminated a metal grating blocking the pipe, and a rounded hole in the ceiling above. i The slaves were beginning to tire, exhaustion showing its marks on most of them. Some stumbled, others dragged their feet, others bowed their heads before the burning sun. The guards began to sweat within their shells of metal. Only the figure, still a striding shadow at the rear, showed no signs of fatigue. Finally, the jagged tips of rock peaks broke the horizon, indicating their goal in the distance. The overseers cracked their whips in response, and the lines of slaves began to reluctantly pick up speed. The sun began to sink towards the ruins before them, shadows blackening the dust as nightfall drew nearer./i Within a small service tunnel, the brown silhouette of Tails rose up through the manhole in the floor, closely followed by Amy. "We're here." He announced confidently. "Now all we need to do is find where the train crash was." "How are we going to do that?" Amy objected. "Did you bring a map, or something?" "Er. no." Tails announced glumly. "I forgot." "Then perhaps we should try this way." Brightening up after leaving the stench and slime behind, Amy began to walk determinedly to the right. "Why should we go that way?" Tails demanded. "The signs, silly." Amy pointed to a yellow square of metal on the wall. "Sonic was travelling by the Mystic Ruins line, and this says the line is this way." "Oh." was all a deflated Tails could utter. Feeling exhaustion catch up with him once more, Tails plodded through the Tunnels, Amy leading them and stopping to check the maintenance sign at every junction. Just as she was walking past one tunnel entrance, Tails stopped her. "The sign says we need to go this way." she objected. "Amy. look." Tails said urgently. She turned to glance into the tunnel mouth, and gasped at the sight of a motionless blue form. "Sonic!" she shrieked and rushed over to him. Shaking him with no response, and then feeling for a pulse, she finally looked over at Tails in shock. "He's. d-dead." 


	12. Chapter 11: Ritual

iBeneath a cloud-smothered sky, the wave-shattered surface of the waters mirrored the darkness. What despairing red light remained of the sunset was engulfed in the shadows above. Little sight was possible now as the encroaching dusk coated all things with grey, thus the dark shape that slid slowly into view was barely distinguishable from the sea around it. As the shape drifted across the empty waters, a last ray of light illuminated it, making visible the image on an abandoned wooden boat. However, from a vantage point higher in the air, some light could still be seen, reflected behind the boat, tinting the water with dancing streaks of orange. Behind the vessel, following the wave back, the source could be seen. A dark, rugged coastline huddled against the horizon, but the centre blazed with light. A city blazed upon the shoreline, and the boat fled it. Once again, the figure's thoughts were broken by a guard. "Why do you disturb me?" "My lord. the sky!" Upon the horizon, the darkened clouds were lit by a light that turned the sky to flame. The figure hissed in irritation. "That light. it comes from Shunscar port. The city is ablaze, and that leaves only one conclusion." It paused before issuing the confirming statement to the train. "The Madness has begun again. We must hurry!"/i Tails' eyes widened in shock. "No. wait. he can't be!" "He is! There's no pulse, no heartbeat-" and Amy lost control and began to sob. She looked over at Tails through tear-filled eyes. "We can't leave him here!" His mind barely accepting what had happened, Tails began to babble. "Perhaps. if we could get him to a hospital. or something. he might just be in a coma." Amy began to heave at Sonic's shoulders, trying to lift him off the ground. "Come on, help me carry him!" Tails grabbed hold of Sonic's legs and lifted with all of his strength. Between them, they finally managed to lift him a foot above ground level. Tails, his arms straining, began to stagger backwards. "We need to get back to the sewers. can you remember the way?" he asked numbly. Amy nodded, and began to walk slowly forward, trying not to collapse beneath the weight. Through his cameras planted in the tunnel roof, Robotnik watched in almost uncontrollable glee. "Finally! That spikeball is dead, and the chance to get his friends is now mine!" He allowed himself one insane laugh before turning round to stab at some buttons on a panel. Tails stopped partway down a tunnel. "That rumbling sound. can you hear it?" "Wh-what?" Amy managed to stammer. However, as she spoke, the noise became loud enough to pierce through even her grief. With a final roar, the sides of the tunnel caved inwards. i As the column of slaves trudged through the shadows on the dust, the clear horizon ahead began to change its shape. A twisted, spiked mass could just be made out, far in the darkness ahead. Drawing closer, the shapes became more distinct, their immense size beginning to show. The ruins of one of the once-great citadels loomed before their approach. Walls and towers made of some warped metal clung to the jutting rock crests upon which the fortress was built. The jagged shapes seemed to tear into the eye, to distort the view around. The whole extruded an atmosphere, not of menace, but simply of not belonging. To the wretched specimens of humanity crawling towards its base, the structure was utterly alien. The slaves prostrated themselves in fear, and the guards forgot their charges for a few seconds, transfixed by awe and dread. Only the black-robed figure remained unaffected. "We enter through the south gate." Coming back to the immediate reality, the guards nodded in obedience and began to push the column onwards once more. The figure lead the way, treading confidently along paths only it knew./i Tails jumped back in shock at the exploding rubble, unconsciously dropping hold of Sonic. Amy promptly sank to her knees beneath the weight. Metal gleamed in the darkness beyond the rubble of the walls, and then metallic beetle badniks were crawling into the tunnel from both sides. Amy let out a shriek born of both tension and surprise, then lowered Sonic's head to the ground and began struggling to pull out her mallet. Tails smashed into the robotic face that loomed at him, and heard a crunch as something gave way. The beetle collapsed, smoke pouring from the sides, as Amy managed to get her mallet loose and hit another badnik on the back. It exploded into metallic fragments, and she and Tails stepped back into the centre of the tunnel and stood back to back over Sonic. With a growl of irritation, Robotnik spun his chair towards another panel and began issuing commands to another squad. "That pathetic pair won't be able to hold out for long!" To make sure this prophecy was self-fulfilling, he sent in as many squads as he could quickly muster to the tunnel. As Tails dodged another beetle and kicked it over onto its side, a bolt of light seared from the shadows, sizzling into his leg before he had time to react. "Ahh-" he bit back a cry of pain and collapsed, managing to roll to one side as another laser shot smashed into the ground where he'd been. The winged shape of a Buzzbomber loomed out of the darkness and aimed its stinger for the kill, before being hit in the side by Amy's frantically thrown mallet. i Through the shattered pillars of what had once been the southern gate, and forwards up a cracked road, also metal, the figure led the column. Striding forwards with greater speed as it neared its goal, it headed through the darkened ruins towards the centre, where the remnants of a single structure clawed upwards through the dust. Here, at last, it signalled for the train to stop. "Order the slaves into position. We prepare for the summoning here." "Yes, my lord" echoed a dozen voices, as the guards moved to push the slaves into order. After shouts had pierced through their exhaustion, they shuffled into a single circle, surrounding the ruin. Walking to stand before the twisted walls, the figure held up a tarnished metal ring. At its nod, the circle began to chant./i 


	13. Chapter 12: Reanimation

iAs the chanting rose to the sunless sky, the figure lifted the ring high above its head, before lowering it again. It stepped forward until it was holding the ring directly above the ruin. The chanting rose in volume and it released the ring. However, instead of falling, the artifact hung in mid- air, as though resting on what had once been there. A faint shimmer began to appear in the air surrounding it, outlining a memory of the structure. The figure's own hissing voice now rose with the chant as it raised its hands once more. It began to speak words, snatches of phrase from an unidentifiable context. "Spikes flashing back the sun/ Feet driving to a run/ Speed is unified in one." Its voice rose now clear above the chants, echoing into the ears of the slaves and guards, whose own minds resonated with its speech. "Spin liberating all/ Bringing evil to its fall/ Through the chaos hear our call." A faint touch of triumph became distinct within the voice as it contemplated the last lines of the verse. "Jewels bringing power of gods/ To triumph against the odds" Pausing for a second, it uttered the final words. "Legend, come now to lead us." A golden light began to shine forth from the ring, and the wings at the sides glowed white. The ragged cloth at the base filled out and became a clear red and blue, a ribbon. The hole in the centre became filled with pure darkness, blotting out the ruins. Faint points of light began to glint within it, and a silhouette, growing larger and larger as if rushing towards the hole at tremendous speed, became visible. The figure lowered its arms, and a faint gleam could be seen within the shadow of its hood. "At last."/i Tails managed to half-pull himself up and turned to look at Amy. "Thanks." he managed to croak through the mist of pain. Her face became filled with concern. "Oh no- you're hurt!" "I. got hit in the leg." and even through the agony Tails was aware of how hopelessly pointless saying the obvious was. Amy's expression changed to alarm. "Can you walk?" Tails tried nodding, although his vision became rimmed with black through dizziness. Wobbling slightly, he managed to drag himself to his feet. Amy looked a little relieved. "Ok. I'll have to manage to carry Sonic on my own," her voice shaking again as the fight faded from her concentration. She turned numbly down the tunnel and stopped dead. "He's. gone!" Tails stared at the patch of ground where the body had lain only a moment ago. In front of his bank of screens, Robotnik was beside himself with glee at the image one of them showed. Sonic's body, in the claws of a badnik, was being brought to him. i Within the hole to another existence, the colour of the silhouette began to show through the darkness. A gleam of bright blue showed on one side as the shape became discernable. As the shadowed spikes blocked the points of light, the figure stepped to one side, away from the ring. Sparks of light began to shower off the ring as it glowed, lighting up the circle around it. A tremendous roar of air began to break the silence, as if coming from a great distance. A blur of blue, growing to full size, shot out of the ring trailing a thunderclap in its wake./i Suddenly, the badnik stopped. Its joints began to spark and it swayed backwards and forwards before toppling over. "NO!" yelled Robotnik. "It can't be faulty! Not now." He banged the keyboard in rage, and the image obligingly dissolved into static. "Daargh! I'll get that spikeball yet!" and he switched to another panel, ordering another squad to issue to their stricken companion at top speed. In the now silent gloom of the tunnel, Sonic's body lay where it had fallen from the badnik's claws. With the camera malfunctioning above, there was nothing left to see what happened. The fingers of one white-gloved hand twitched slightly, and then clenched into a fist. i The shape shot across the open space until stopped by the ruins of a twisted wall. The "Oof!" of expelled air came from it as it crashed to the ground, then slowly stood up. Sonic stared around the square, at the ring of slaves, the guards behind them and the black-robed figure in the centre. The figure seemed to stare back at him form the depths of its hood, and then suddenly bowed. Shaking, the slaves and guards threw themselves to the ground. "Welcome. saviour of this world. Sonic the hedgehog." A collective moan came from the slaves. Sonic's jaw hung open for a second. "What- what are you on about?" "You are the hero who was fortold in our legends. You have been summoned to aid us, to save this world from its curse. You-" The figure broke off, straightening, as another sound broke the night. Faint shouts drifted on the night winds, and a light began to illuminate the citadel form the distance. Moving through the shadowed plains, a wake of flame approached the citadel. The figure began to speak again, a note of urgency in its tone. "The Madness. They have followed us across the dust somehow. The port must be destroyed by now. We must ready ourselves before they get here, for they seek our blood." Sonic shook his head slightly, trying to make sense of what was going on around him. "Wait. what's this place? Who are you, and who are "They" you're referring to." "This. is a dust-covered, cursed world. They are people possessed by the Madness, which drives them to seek killing and destruction through the fire that burns in their blood. They will seek to kill us, unless we kill them." Sonic stepped back, looking dumbstuck. "Hang on a second. you're asking me to kill people? I can't let that happen!" The figure turned the shadow of its face towards him. "It is either kill, or be killed. The simplest of the laws of Nature. Should you wish to save yourself, you must kill others." Sonic shook his head, disoriented, but still certain about one thing. "No. I can't do that." "Then you will perish with the rest of us."/i 


	14. Chapter 13: Confrontation

Sonic's eyes once more lost the image of the dust-covered world and became filled with darkness instead. He struggled to sit up, his eyes adjusting to the lack of light and revealing the shapes of the tunnel walls and the shattered badnik. "Oh, man. how'd I end up here?" As he scrambled to his feet, his vision temporarily clouded through dizziness and he shook slightly. "I must've been being carried by that badnik, but how? And what happened to it?" He managed to step over to beside the wreck. "It looks pretty bashed up. must've malfunctioned from the damage or something." A more urgent idea arose in his mind. "Anyway, not much point in hanging around here. I'd better move." Gritting his teeth slightly, he chose a direction at random and began to run. Tails managed to focus on the gaping hole in the side of the tunnel. "I'd guess a badnik grabbed him. Probably went that way." Amy's expression became frantic. "We better follow it, then!" She promptly began to run, ducking through the gap and entering the shadows beyond before stopped by a groan from Tails. "I can't run. you'd better go ahead. I'll try to catch up with you," his voice becoming a croak by the end of the sentence. Amy looked doubtful, then nodded. "Ok. if you're sure you can manage." Tails also managed to nod before watching her vanish into the gloom. Trying to hold himself together against gathering exhaustion, he slowly followed. Hearing a sound ahead of him, Sonic stopped. A faint, rhythmic clanking noise was just discernable in the darkness. "Eggman. his base must be around here somewhere." He sped off once more, following the noise of machinery. His temper under control once more, Robotnik glanced at the camera into the ruined tunnel. "What? They've disappeared!" The unwelcome conclusion came together in his mind that Tail and Amy might be following in the path of the wrecked badnik, in which case. He stabbed at several more panels, trying to recall as many squads as he could, before heaving himself out of the chair and turning to the door behind him. Suddenly, Sonic began to slow down as he felt ithe whispers of the shadows grow/i in the tunnel and his eyes began to show ithe shadowed ruins of the alien citadel, half-buried beneath the all conquering dust./i "What- what's going on?" He staggered to a halt, trying to hold off the visions, but to no result. i The figure turned to glance at the light in the desert, and then continued to speak. "They are nearly here. Quickly. You must decide." Sonic thought for a few seconds, but his mind remained clear as to the conclusion. "I just.can't kill people. Perhaps I could knock 'em out, or something?" "So be it." The figure's voice rose to an irritated hiss. "That will only delay them, though, and those possessed by the Madness do not fall easily." Shouts became audible from the light, and the circle of slaves began to look apprehensive. The guards shuffled nervously, before straightening up and forming the slaves into lines. The figure remained still, apparently unaffected. "They come."/i Sonic blinked, and the tunnel was once again before his eyes. "Whoa. what's going on?" He tried to focus on his surroundings. "Why do I keep seeing these things? Eggman couldn't do anything like that, could he?" Pushing doubt from his mind, he began to sprint down the tunnel once more. Robotnik's exit was suddenly interrupted by the voice of the Darkling. "Having trouble?" it enquired sarcastically. Robotnik's temper frayed slightly as he spoke. "No, merely that the badnik carrying the spikeball broke down, his friends are on their way after it, and my squads are all over the place." "You don't mean they could follow it here, do you? I hope you're able to handle the situation." With that, its presence left the fuming Robotnik, who, after standing still for a couple of seconds, exited hurriedly. The noise of machinery pounded louder in Sonic's ears as he approached a corner, which was illuminated by electric light. Slowing down as he approached, he stopped abruptly upon seeing what lay round it. Another factory, its glare casting shadows across the tunnel, was spread out before him. Pistons pounded into grinding conveyor belts as mechanical parts streamed through the system. "Man. how many of these things does Eggman have?" Sonic began to run forward towards the nearest conveyor, but suddenly stopped again at the sound of a familiar voice. "What?! You're supposed to be dead, spikeball!" The platform of an industrial lift rose from the depths of the factory. Upon it stood Robotnik's walker, gleaming black, with twisted, organic- looking protusions jutting out. It's creator glared from the top. "This time I'll make sure you stay dead, hedgehog!" Sonic began to run forward again, when yet another voice interrupted the proceedings. "S-SONIC?" Amy gasped as she emerged form the tunnel behind him. "You're. alive. how? We thought you. were- d-d-" and her face lit up as she stammered. Sonic managed to look bewildered and irritated all at once. "Amy, what are you going on abou-" Robotnik gave vent to a maniacal laugh and pulled a lever, sending bolts of energy searing towards him. "Sonic! Look out!" Amy shrieked, before noticing that he was already flying though the air towards the walker. Recovering a little of her self control, she hefted her mallet and jumped onto the platform. Robotnik pulled another lever, and the platform began to move backwards into the midst of the factory workings. He spun the walker round, and watched Sonic's spin rebound harmlessly off the cockpit. "Ow! How d'you hurt this thing?" Sonic asked of the world in general, before spinning into the air again. Robotnik pulled another lever, and a glowing shield of energy surrounded the walker. Sonic frantically tried to swerve aside in mid-air, but couldn't stop himself from slamming into it. With a crackle, he was flung backwards into the floor, where he lay, unconscious. Robotnik threw his head back in laughter before reaching for a lever. 


	15. Chapter 14: Dilemma

iThe volume of the shouts began to grow as their source drew nearer, and the lights of the fires faintly illuminated the dark masses of the buildings towering above. The figure began to move its hands though the air, tracing a strange, angular pattern, which seemed almost visible. Sonic mentally writhed in indecision for a few seconds, then walked slowly over to the end of the lines, tensing himself in readiness for what he might do. The faint, almost inaudible chant in the hissing voice of the figure echoed in his ears as the stared at the oncoming flames./i Amy leapt into the air, and swung her mallet down onto the cockpit with all the force she could muster. It rebounded, but the walker shook with the impact, causing Robotnik's expression to become surprised for a split second. Recovering, he swung the machine round towards her, and pressed several buttons simultaneously. The protuberances on the front glowed briefly, and then shot out two bolts of blue energy. Amy managed to spin out of the way, catching her balance on the rail at the edge of the lift. Robotnik moved the walker forward towards her, and stopped abruptly as a gigantic metal piston slammed into the lift in front of him. Glancing backwards quickly, he saw the production machines looming behind the lift, which was moving towards them on its preset course. He quickly pulled the walker back and ignited the jets, shooting off the edge of the lift to hover several metres below. Amy took one look at the mass of crashing metal the lift was moving towards, grabbed Sonic's unconscious form, and leapt off the lift. It moved onwards for a few more seconds before crumpling beneath the blows of the machinery. i The flames were individually visible, now, and they illuminated the figures who wielded them. The shapes of people, filed with insanity, twisted and clawed at the air beneath the flickering light. Thankfully, their faces were still swallowed by shadow, but the incoherent yells they produced rang through the ruins. Then those at the front caught sight of the huddle of slaves, and surged forward with a roar, their fellows, if fellowship could be said to exist amongst psychotic madmen, following their lead. The crowd of slaves weighed up the prospects of the fight with commendable speed and tried to run, despite the guards at their backs. The guards themselves stood shaking, trying to stand against the charge. Sonic stood with them, outwardly fearless. The figure paused in its chant, then spoke a single alien word, turning it palms towards the mob. A glowing symbol hung for a second in its hands, then shot forward, trailing short-lived sparks. It smashed into the chest of one at the head of the mob and exploded violently, illuminating the faces nearby even as those forward were blown to fragments. Their faces showed no fear, only twisted blood lust, and they continued their charge as though none had died. Sonic sprinted forwards towards them, his only thought to stop them somehow, and to stop anything like that sight which the explosion had carved across his eyes from happening again. The figure stood silent, watching. Its guards tremblingly stepped forwards, setting spears to point at the oncoming charge./i Amy fell through the air, clothes billowing with the uprush, until she slammed into a metal surface, the shock jarring Sonic from her grip. Movement caught the top of her vision, and she stared upwards, to see the walker diving down towards her, the protuberances on the front glowing once more. i An audible "thud" as Sonic slammed into the forefront of the mob. The howling madmen swayed momentarily from his impact, then pulled themselves upright. He spun frantically at the nearest one, connecting with the side of its head, but it merely staggered slightly. Finally stopping, Sonic stood upright only to see the horde converging on him from all directions. The figure spoke several incomprehensible words and pointed at one of the mob. His face froze in mid-roar and he slowly toppled backwards, lying paralysed on the ground. Sonic quickly leapt into the air again, aiming for the gap before the press of people closed it./i Amy twisted round, rolling to one side as the bolts of blue energy shot out. Robotnik spun the walker round, training the sights on her moving form, but suddenly stopped at a sound from the darkness of the tunnel. Tails staggered out into the glare, his leg barely able to support him, then saw the walker turn to point its guns at his trembling form. Amy leapt as high as she could, and managed to slam her hammer into the base of the walker. The jets erupted, scorching the end of the hammer black, and rocketing the walker up towards the roof at incredible speed. Robotnik stared up in shock for a few seconds before the walker exploded violently, crashing down into the depths of the factory and starting more explosions in response. Amy leant over Sonic. "Sonic, wake up! Please wake up." i Sonic felt the impact of yet more bodies bouncing off his spin and falling to the ground. He lost all sense of time and place for a few seconds, then recovered to find himself surrounded by unconscious forms. "We must leave. They will recover shortly." The figure hissed. "Leave? Where?" Sonic asked, still slightly dizzy. "Our objective is the northern citadel, but the Madness outbreak makes it too dangerous to travel on land. We must head for the port and see if any boats survive." The figure motioned with its gauntleted hand, and the guards obediently began to round up the slaves and form them into a column. "No time for rest. We must leave before more of them come here." The figure turned, and found Sonic standing before it. "You'd better give me some reason for all this." He demanded. "In order to confront that which threatens our world, we must find the gate. The knowledge can be found in the ruins of the citadels, of which this is one. That is all." "No, hang on a second. What about details? What threatens the world?" The figure looked at him from the depths of its hood. "That is what we go to discover." Sonic remained before it. "You can at least tell me who you are." "My name is on no importance." The figure paused for a second, curtailing its irritation. "We must leave. Now."/i Sonic blinked, and found himself staring up at Amy from the floor. "Come on, get up! We have to get out of here!" "Wha?" Sonic uttered, confused, as he struggled to sit up. "The whole place is exploding!" Tails yelled from the entrance. Sonic heaved himself to his feet. "What happened to Eggman?" "He crashed." Tails explained shortly. "We really better get out of here." The explosions surrounding them finally entered Sonic's awareness. 


	16. Chapter 15: Transition

Sonic tried to think frantically through the ache in his head. "Tails- you need any help?" Tails nodded glumly, staring down at the red patch that covered part of his leg where the fur had been burnt away. "Uh, Sonic?" The pair spun round at Amy's voice, to see her pointing at a nearby control panel. "This button here says 'Emergency Exit'.. that wouldn't be any help, would it?" "Press it!" Sonic yelled back at her. Amy nodded and pushed the large, red button. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then, with a grinding noise, a steel shutter fell over the entrance, and the floor began to shake. As the three looked around in bewilderment, the noise intensified and it began to move, sliding out from under them into the base of a wall. Tails looked over the edge of the widening crack left by the floor and panicked. "Sonic! There's a pit underneath. it's full of spikes!" "A trap!" Sonic realised, beginning run across what remained of the floor. "Eggman must have left a shut-off switch somewhere." "How do you know that?" Tails asked, puzzled. Despite the urgency of the situation, Sonic grinned. "He always does." Glancing at the banks of controls for a few seconds, he leapt into the air, aiming for one. It exploded in a cloud of fragments, nearly throwing him into the pit. The floor continued to move, and the control panels slid into recesses in the walls. As Sonic ran forwards at them again, metal shutters slid down, sealing them off. Tails looked around, seeing the gap separating them from the other platforms was too far to jump. "Sonic, Amy, hang on! I'll try to fly to one of the other platforms!" He yelled, before launching himself into the air and whirling his tails. An explosion of pain went off in his leg as he rose into the air, nearly making him black out and fall. Gritting his teeth, he managed to angle himself towards the nearest metal platform, seeing another bank of control panels at the back. Bracing himself for the shock of landing, he was still unprepared for the fire that seared through his nerves until he saw black. Amy gasped with horror as Tails collapsed. "Sonic! Isn't there anything we can do?" Sonic turned to look at her, but his vision instead showed ithe vastness of the dust plains by night, their shadows blending with the sky to give as near an impression of infinity as a mortal mind could ever comprehend./i "No! Not now." i Nearer to the column, the torchlight illuminated the dust, but the extent of it paled into nothingness compared to the darkness surrounding them. The figure, however, seemed to have no difficulty finding its way in a vastness so uniform direction became meaningless once the citadel had been swallowed by the gloom./i Amy looked at Sonic's glazed expression in shock, then turned to see Tails' unconscious form on the other platform, before staring from the now tiny strip of floor at the spikes beneath. "Sonic! What's wrong?" She received only silence in response as death gaped at their feet. i Sonic, chafing at the slow pace, ran to beside the figure. "How far do we have to go?" "The port city- or what is left of it- is another few miles from here." "What do you mean, 'what's left of it'?" "Upon our journey here, the flames of its destruction lit the sky." The figure ventured no further explanation, and they journeyed on in what would have been, but for the clinking of chains and the muttered orders of guards, silence. After a while, Sonic's boredom compelled him to speak again. "The people with this 'Madness' thing. they burnt the port?" "Yes." The figure replied curtly. "What is it?" "What?" "The 'Madness' thing that turned those people into that. mob." The figure sighed. "It is not known, other than that it is part of the curse that plagues our world." "What's the rest of the curse?" Sonic demanded. "Many things. The dust. the burning heat. the loss of whatever civilisation we once possessed." "What do you mean?" "The curse tore apart society. reduced us to a primitive culture and led to the destruction of the knowledge and artefacts we once held." The figure sighed again "We were a great people once."/i Tails blearily came to consciousness, and blinked at the metal in front of his eyes before memory scrambled back. He clambered to his feet, limping, and staggered over to the control panel. The buttons hazed before his eyes, so he breathed deeply and began hitting the panel randomly in the hope he'd connect with something. "Tails!" Amy's cry echoed across the factory as she struggled to keep the oblivious Sonic from falling of the narrow strip of retreating floor. Unable to make out anything now, Tails smashed his fist down in front of him and was rewarded with a 'beep!' A whirring noise came from the depths of the factory, and the floor stopped moving. Amy's face lit up. "You did it, Tails!" A thought shot into her kind and she looked down. "Now, how are we going to get off this thing.?" i Sonic interrupted the figure's thoughts. "So, what do we do at this citadel place?" "Some records that did survive the wave of destruction. The northern, southern and eastern citadels each contain part of the information our ancestors discovered before they perished or fell prey to the Madness." "And what's this information?" "Knowledge. of the source of the curse, and how to destroy it. In order to protect it from the mobs, part was hidden in the wreckage of each of the citadels." "And what are these citadels?" "That also is unknown." The figure paused and looked at him. "Do you have any more questions?" "Just one. Who are you?" "My name. I cannot understand why you wish to know. is Darkling."/i 


	17. Chapter 16: Undercurrents

i At first, as the group emerged from the shadows of the hills hours later, only hazy shadows, slightly blacker than their surroundings, were visible in the fading darkness, backed by the inhuman roars of an invisible sea. However, as the first shards of light shot across the watery horizon, the shield of night began to dissolve, leaving nothing to conceal the devastation. Before them cowered the scorched remnants of what once have might been a city, but was now reduced to mere memories of habitation, in some cases nothing but lines of ash marking the graves of buildings. A few pieces of structure survived, jagged lumps poking up through the charcoal, but they only served to emphasise the almost total obliteration of the place. The figure strode ahead of the formation of slaves, its robes almost brushing the ground but remaining a fraction above it. It began to mutter words, which were incoherent, but bore a hint of vicious anger. "Are we really going to find a boat here?" Sonic enquired sceptically. The figure turned to regard him with the darkness where its face seemed likely to be. "It depends. there used to be great ships here, but I assume they perished with the rest of the port. With any luck, there will be things buried beneath the ash." "Yes, but what's the chance they'll include a boat? This is a stupid idea!" Sonic complained. The figure seemed about to reply, but then suddenly turned to face the sea, as if something were visible there only to it. "Over there. at the beach."/i Amy stared worriedly at Sonic while Tails fiddled with the controls, trying to find some way to extend the platform. "What's happened to him? He's still standing. but he doesn't seem to see anything." Tails pulled a lever, and a promising whirr came from beneath the floor as the platform started to slide back into place. As soon as the gap closed, he hobbled across. "I don't know. he looks as though he's in some kind of trance." "Is that dangerous?" Amy asked, her eyes wide with alarm. Sonic blinked. "What- what's going on?" he asked bewilderedly as the ruins were replaced by the steel walls of the factory. "Sonic!" Amy yelled in relief, and tried to hug him. Sonic moved backwards against the wall. "What happened to Eggman?" "Amy trashed his ship" Tails explained briefly. "What happened to you, though?" Sonic looked up at the sagging mass of beams that had once been the ceiling. "Hadn't we better get out before the roof comes down?" Tails nodded. "I think I can make it back to the tunnels." He began to move, and Sonic noticed him limping. "What happened?" "He got hit in the leg by a badnik." Amy said, her eyes filled with relief every time she looked at Sonic. Sonic reached the inevitable conclusion, unable to come up with anything else "We'd better help him." He said glumly. Beneath their feet as they staggered in unison out of the crumbling factory, in the dankness of the sewers, the water lapped against the walls, whirling in unexpected currents and eddies. The shadows beneath its surface stirred, and rose. Sonic paused for a second and looked sceptically at Amy. "You sure you know where we're going?" "She got us here." Tails pointed out as he leaned heavily on their shoulders. Amy pointed to the grime-obscured yellow square screwed to the wall. "These signs. they must have been put up for rail workers, and I can remember which ones we came past on the way here." Sonic nodded, Tails' weight beginning to wear on his shoulders. The three began to trudge on again. As Robotnik's chair creaked beneath the weight in a small, metal room below the wreckage of what been his factory, the voice of the Darkling seared through his mind. "It appears your trap has failed to work. Your factories are both in ruins, and your badnik force is scrap. What, exactly, are you planning to do now?" Robotnik looked irritated for a second, then began to laugh. "I am never defeated! I still have the other complex, and the machine and robots are still intact. Soon, I will rebuild the factories, and this minor setback will be reversed!" "Speaking of the machine- is it ready yet?" the Darkling's voice cut across Robotnik's gloating. Momentairly thrown, Robotnik recovered. "It is almost ready. Soon, it can be activated." His laugh broke out once again, echoing in the cramped space. As Sonic staggered along, his vision began to blur and the blackened remains of the port city began to overlay the shadowed tunnel. "Aw, no! Why does thi-" He toppled forward, nearly taking Tails with him. i The guards promptly strode forward at the figure's gesture, their heavy boots crushing what shapes the ash tried to retain. Sonic moved after them, hearing the almost silent swish of the figures robes as it too began to walk. The slaves stood listlessly, waiting for someone to tell them what to do. A short distance ahead, the guards rounded a heap of wreckage to see the grey stretch of the beach before them, distinguishable from the plains only through its proximity to water. Confused, they looked around for a few seconds, before one caught sight of the dark shape drifting on the waters, almost out of sight. Sonic, catching up, saw the distinct outline of a small boat. With barely any noise, the figure was there behind them. "I shall retrieve it." "Hang on!" Sonic objected. "How are we all goanna fit in that?" The figure turned slightly. "We aren't. It will, however, suffice to hold you, myself and a couple of the guards." "But. what about the other guards? The slaves?" Sonic protested, an unwelcome suspicion coming over him. "They will have to take their chances on land. I will command them to meet us at the citadel." "With those mobs out there?" Sonic found his voice becoming louder with anger. The figure gave what might have been a shrug. "They are of little significance compared to the survival of an entire world."/i "Sonic! What happened?" Amy's penetrating voice broke though and Sonic found himself staring down the tunnel once more. "I. don't know." He confessed. "It's as if I was having. some kind of vision, or something." Tails pushed himself up off the ground, looking worried. "A sort of dream? Like when Knuckles was attacked by Chaos?" Sonic nodded, relieved to have something to compare it to. "Yeah. Something like that." "Hadn't we better get out of here?" Amy interrupted, her voice shaking. Sonic shook off all thoughts about dreams and visions. "Ok, let's get going." Robtnik looked down from the cockpit of his hastily repaired walker at the vast metal cylinder below, control banks and apparatus packed around its base. Even as he watched form high in the roof of the vast cavern, strange spider-like robots swarmed over it, swiftly assembling the final workings of the machine. Yet again, the Darkling spoke to his mind. "You were right. work is nearly complete. I congratulate you. I doubt any other individual on this planet could have achieved it." Robotnik grinned gleefully. "There is only the power source left to be connected, and then-" "And one other modification I have in mind." The Darkling interrupted. For a split-second, alarm flickered over Robotnik's face. "What? You never mentioned this before!" "There was no need." The Darkling explained bluntly. Without waiting for a response, it focused on one of the cables leading to the cylinder. The entire cavern suddenly became pitch black, before light swiftly returned an instant later. The ground shuddered slightly, a deep noise on the very edge of hearing reverberating through it. Wisps of darkness, shadow seeming solid, whirled around the cylinder before being sucked into it. "It is done." The Darkling's voice was almost tangible with satisfaction. Sonic stopped on the edge of the dark, circular hole in the centre of the floor. "We have to go through the sewers?" he complained. "It's the only way out." Amy explained, finding, to her amazement, a slight degree of irritation. She, after all, had already been through it once. With an exaggerated expression of gloom, Sonic lowered himself into the stench below. "Hey- was this flooded when you came through?" his voice echoed back up. "No, it wasn't." Tails shouted back, puzzled. His eyes adapting to the blackness, Sonic saw that several inches of water swirled around his feet. Impatient, he began to stride forward. "What are you waiting for?" his voice came back up. "It isn't tha-" A loud splash broke Sonic's speech as he walked off the edge of the submerged walkway, and promptly sank. Alarmed, Amy leapt into the hole at the suggestion her hero could be in danger. "What about me?" Tails yelled from above, his leg sagging under him. Sonic struggled in the slimy grip of the sewer channel before feeling stone under his feet. He leapt upwards, trying to clear the surface of the water. As Amy stared frantically around the flooded tunnel, Sonic's spinning form broke the surface and landed back on the walkway, splashing filthy water across the tunnel. She shrieked instinctively and leapt backwards as he stood up, mud dripping off his spikes in a continuous stream. "Uh. could I have some help getting down?" Tails called from the hole. Sonic nodded and started towards the faint shaft of light, then suddenly toppled backwards into the water. 


	18. Chapter 17: Desertion

Robotnik stuttered with incoherent outrage for a few seconds before getting himself under control. He focused back on the scene below as the robots manoeuvred a glowing glass cylinder in a twisted metal frame towards the larger metal one. "I take it that would be the power source?" the Darkling enquired. Robotnik nodded, his manic good humour returning. With a scraping noise, part of the large metal cylinder slid outwards and to the side, revealing a dark space within the construct. Guided by the metallic claws of the spiders, the power source slid inside and locked into place. Robotnik pressed a series of controls, and the cylinder slid shut again. "It is complete!" he gloated, and began to laugh. Sonic slid below the surface of the waters before realising what was going on, at which point he began to thrash around frantically. His leg seemed to have gone numb, and something was pulling it down into the filthy depths. Amy stared in horror at the unbroken surface on the water for a few seconds, and then leapt in where Sonic had vanished. She forced her eyes to open in the water, trying to see through the murk even as pain lanced across them. Catching sight of a splash of red colour, she reached out for it. Sonic felt a grab at his other foot, and feeling began to come back to his leg as the force pulling him downwards lessened. Suddenly released, he shot upwards. Amy broke the surface and crawled onto the walkway, pulling Sonic above water. He stared around dazedly for a few seconds before grabbing onto the side. "What happened?" Tails' voice echoed from above. Amy looked at her hero in concern. "Yes, what happened, Sonic?" Sonic tried to shake the fuzziness out of his head before replying. "Something pulled me into the water." And even as he spoke he realised that, while before he'd fallen to the bottom of the flooded channel, he'd been dragged far deeper without touching stone. "So, are you going to activate it?" the Darkling enquired acidly when it realised Robotnik wasn't going to stop laughing. To its satisfaction, the laughter cut off abruptly. "Of course." Robotnik replied irritably, swivelling round in his seat. As he entered yet another sequence of button presses, the spider robots drew back from the cylinder. A faint noise, almost beyond hearing, resounded throughout the cavern. As it increased in volume, the cylinder seemed to blur slightly, vibrating too fast for the eye to follow. "What now?" Robotnik asked of the unseen entity. "Everything is as you requested." "We wait." The Darkling replied smugly. Sonic looked up towards the tunnel roof. "Tails- you need help getting down?" Tails nodded tiredly, feeling what little energy he had left drain away as his adrenalin wore out. At that point, Sonic's vision began to blur. i "Ok, let me put it another way." The figure hissed irritably. "We can use the boat and leave the slaves to take their chances, or we can stand around here and wait for the mobs to find us." Seeing Sonic hesitate, it added: "At least this way they'll stand a chance.better than if they come with us." "Just what do you mean by that?" Sonic enquired suspiciously. "I think you'll find most of them would rather take their chances with the mobs than brave the Wasted Island." and the figure laughed smugly, as if it knew something the rest of the world didn't. Sonic frowned in puzzlement. "But why. if they're so afraid of this island place. why are the guards and slaves following you at all?" The figure laughed again, almost self-mockingly. "They fear me more than any other terror upon this world." "Why, though? Who are you- I mean to them?" Sonic demanded. "I. am their 'lord', their leader. That is all they- and you- need to know." "So, you expect me to save the world, but won't even tell me who you are?" Sonic asked sarcastically. "Enough!" the figure spat. "My concern is for the future of this world. not for your own self-satisfaction. We have wasted enough time already." It turned towards the guards. "You.and you.wait here. The rest of you, escort the slaves to the northern citadel by way of the plains. I shall expect you to meet us there." The guards nodded mutely, the two it had indicated remaining where they were while the others moved back to the column of slaves. The figure turned towards the boat, and began to weave its fingers in and out of each other, before making a beckoning gesture with one hand. The boat, as though hit with some force from behind, surged towards the shore./i "Sonic?" Tails' questioning voice broke through the image, and Sonic realised he was still staring up at the tunnel roof. "It happened again. you just blanked out." Sonic shook his head wearily, making another effort to clear it, and stared at the wall. "I don't know why this keeps happening. I keep seeing this other world, and some guy in black telling me I have to save it." He switched back to the roof, and reached up towards Tails, who lowered himself over the edge, Sonic guiding him down to the submerged floor. After a few minutes, Robotnik grew bored of watching the cylinder vibrate with no other visible result. "Isn't something supposed to be happening?" he asked irritably. "It is," the Darkling replied, "Just not here." "And what's that supposed to mean?" Robotnik said sarcastically. "That the machine is not achieving its purpose in this locality, but in another one." The Darkling required, although whether being equally sarcastic or taking him at his word, Robotnik couldn't tell. After a few seconds before, he broke the silence again. "And the rest of our bargain?" "As I promised" the Darkling replied, seeming almost to savour the words it spoke next. "You will have a city in the grip of terror, a city reduced to a network of howling crowds, a city. ripe for conquest." It paused, uncertain of how much it should reveal. "You see. it suits my purposes as well." A subdued splashing echoed within the sewers as the three waded through the water. As they rounded a corner, Sonic saw the faint hint of a tunnel opening onto the night. Moonlight glinted across the water, the reflection shattered by the ripples from distant waves. Tails suddenly raised his head in surprise. "That water. the beach is flooded too." Amy, whose shoes were now beyond help, slumped slightly. "What could be causing it?" 


	19. Chapter 18: Morpheus

"Who cares?" Sonic responded irritably. He looked around tiredly, feeling exhaustion beginning to seep through to his brain as his adrenalin ran out. "I need to get some rest." "Shouldn't we do something about Tails' leg, too?" Amy asked. "I'm. fine." Tails tried to croak, unsure of the truth of his own words. Sonic looked at him with faint concern. "Hadn't we better get you to hospital, or something?" Tails began to nod, then suddenly froze. Slowly, he reached down towards his leg, as if unsure of what he was seeing. Though pain still hammered through it, the wound had diminished to little more than a red streak. "I just need to sleep for a bit. I'll be fine in the morning, really." He argued, forcing the words through his throat. Amy just stared at him. "Your leg- how did it.?" Tails tried to laugh. "Don't know. I must just heal quickly." "Ok. we'd better head back to the flat." Sonic cut in as soon as it became apparent no medical aid would be necessary. That night, as Sonic finally drifted into sleep, his dreams dragged him iinto the shadows of the ashen city, the boat skimming across the waves unmanned towards where he stood on the shore. With the clichéd faint crunch of sand under impact, the boat bumped into the shore. The figure gestured towards it, looking at the two guards. "Get in, and take an oar each." It commanded, before turning to Sonic. "I believe it would be an appropriate time to depart." It said, sarcasm running through its voice. "Really?" Sonic responded in the same tone. His gaze couldn't penetrate the shadows of its hood, but Sonic felt as though the figure might be glaring at him. "Of course, you could remain here if you prefer." It hissed. Sonic thought of retorting, but decided against it. He walked forwards to the boat and stepped in, walking to the bows and facing towards the sea. Behind him, he waited to hear the faint creak as the figure stepped in, but it made no sound as it seated itself in the stern. It nodded to the guards, who plunged the oars into the water and began to row, the boat slowly moving through the water before picking up speed. Sonic stared at the horizon, but nothing beyond seemingly endless water met his gaze. Time passed, the motion of the boat and the regular creak of the oars becoming almost hypnotic. Sonic still stared at the horizon, but did so blankly, his mind no longer focusing on what he saw. The figure remained motionless in the stern, any suggestion of what it might be thinking buried beneath the robes. The coast behind them had long since been buried by sea, which was all that the eye could discern in any direction. Suddenly, Sonic blinked, the realisation of what he was seeing creeping into his consciousness. On the horizon before him, the black shape of a coastline skulked, almost as if trying to avoid being found. The figure rose to its feet, the boat not even trembling slightly with the movement. "There. our destination." It paused, and a tone almost of satisfaction came into its voice. "Behold. the Wasted Island." Every minute the coastline grew as the boat drew near, the guards seeming untiring as they pulled the oars through the water. As greater detail became visible, Sonic expected the black silhouette to show other colours, even if only the grey of the dust that infected the world. However, the island remained black, formed of some dismal rock or ash that yielded no relief to the eye. A faint sound seemed to chafe at the ear, something almost like the faintest of winds, but no wind could be felt. The sound could not be pinpointed, remaining on the edge of hearing, making it impossible to determine if it was being heard at all. As they drew closer, Sonic began to see just how big the landmass was. They approached no small islet, but a huge lump of rock at least several miles across. It was several seconds before he realised the creak of the oars had stopped. The guards, although still clinging unconsciously to the wood, were staring ahead at the island, motionless. Their faces seemed blank, but their eyes spoke of helplessness, of inability to move as they beheld their destination. The figure hissed with irritation. "I might have known this would happen." "What?" Sonic demanded. "What's happened to them?" "They feel the aura of the place." The figure explained. "You, being not of this sphere, are unaffected for now, and I have an. immunity to such things." "For now?" Sonic repeated, picking the unwelcome words out of the sentence. "They, being born of this world, have an innate. sensitivity to it. You lack this, and are therefore resistant to the aura of the place, but you will succumb to it in time." The figure paused for a second. "Therefore, we must move quickly." "But. what about them?" Sonic protested, pointing at the guards. "What's happening to them, and what can we do?" Another hiss. "They are. stricken with paralysis by the aura. This effect will remain until they are removed to a further distance from the place." "So you're going to send them back?" "I. am going to leave them when we arrive." The figure said in tones of inevitability. "I have no means to transport them back easily, and we cannot be encumbered upon the island. Time is critical." "But. couldn't you use the boat to send them back, or something?" Sonic protested, finding it hard to rebel against the figure's words. "And waste my strength?" the figure spat. "That we cannot afford." "Then why go to this island place at all? Why don't we just go round it?" The figure seemed about to retort sharply, then stopped. It began to speak more slowly. "I. see. You require a little more explanation." Pausing briefly again, it began to speak once more, while the boat drifted in the water. "Somewhere upon this heap of rock, the Wasted Island, there lies an artefact we will need to obtain. the citadel key. While the citadels are ruined shells, the vaults beneath should still survive, and in order to access them, we will need the key." Sonic glared at the figure. "Look, why can't we just take the boat in, leave it and the guards on the beach, and just take them with us again when we leave?" The figure gave a short, cynical laugh. "We will not be leaving by boat." "Then how are we goanna leave?" Sonic demanded furiously. "Can't you just explain everything properly?" "No." the figure said with finality. "I can't." "Why not?" Sonic almost yelled, but managed to control his voice. "I cannot explain that either." Behind them, the black rocks scarred the sky, waiting./i Sonic woke abruptly, sitting up in bed as the images twisted in his eyes to become the shadows of a darkened room. Sweat coated his spikes, evaporating as the vivid shapes of the other place faded. Focusing on the window, he realised it was still dark outside. The night seemed silent, no traffic in the street outside. Lying back, Sonic guessed it must be the early hours of the morning. He stared up at the darkened ceiling, trying to return to sleep, whatever horrors it might hold. Suddenly, a faint, incessant noise finally impinged on his consciousness: the gentle lapping of water against some surface outside. Dragging himself from the tangle of sheets, he wandered over to the window, ignoring the momentary flashes in front of his eyes through suddenly rising. Parting the curtains, at first the city looked normal, until a glint from below caught his eye. He peered down, to see the reflection of the moon in the water; the water that covered the street, and rose for a foot or more up the sides of the buildings opposite. "What? The street's flooded?" and Sonic realised that in his surprise he had spoken aloud. Robotnik started from his own sleep at the sound of a familiar voice in his head. "You should leave- quickly." He sat up, remembering that for some reason he'd chosen to sleep in the cockpit of his walker. "What? Why do you disturb me?" he yelled irritably. "The city is flooded." The Darkling explained matter-of-factly. "Given that this place is underground, I thought it might be wise to move elsewhere before the water drains down here." "Flooded?" Robotnik demanded irritably. "How can it be flooded?" "It is: only slightly, but enough to make it unwise to remain underground. Since the machine is waterproof, I would recommend that you leave it and take the robots to some other suitable location away from Station Square." "Leave?" Robotnik's voice rose to a yell again. "What about my badnik forces- the factory- the apparatus?" "If you remember," the Darkling responded, irritation entering its mental speech, "it would be unwise to remain anyway once the machine begins to work. You should still have time to remove your squads. In fact, having the machine submerged will add to its security." Robotnik muttered angrily to himself, trying and failing to find some fault in the entity's reasoning. With an irritated growl, he swivelled round to a control panel and began to order the badnik squads to withdraw. Sonic turned away from the window, trying to think through exhaustion. The idea of going back to sleep and hoping the water would go away seemed attractive, and it stuck inside his mind, until nothing but sleep seemed to matter. He collapsed back onto the bed, the room blacking out around him. i "What do you mean, you can't explain anything?" Sonic's temper had got the better of him, and his voice rose to a yell. "What it sounds like, I should imagine." The figure seemed almost to be laughing at him from the shadows of its hood. "Regardless, I had better transport us to the island." Looking over Sonic's head, it fixed its gaze on the coast of the island, before moving its fingers in another darting pattern, almost impossible to follow. The boat rocked slightly and then, in the grip of some force, shot forwards towards the island, almost throwing Sonic off balance. The figure remained standing still, ignoring the motion beneath its feet./i 


	20. Chapter 19: Tides

iA low-lying beach, its own blackness barely visible against the blackness of the rest of the island, loomed in front of the battered wooden prow. The boat, barely slowing in the shallows before it, slid onto the beach with a scraping noise. Looking down, Sonic saw that, rather than sand, the beach was covered with jagged shards of the same black rock that seemed to form the rest of the island before them. The figure strode forward, stepping over the side onto the splintered surface. Although the edges of the rock fragments were sharpened to a vicious thinness, it seemed unaffected. Sonic, however, looked apprehensively at the ground, imagining its effect on his trainers. "What are you waiting for?" The figure asked, though whether in sarcasm or impatience he was unable to tell. Sonic turned to look at the guards, still sitting motionless on their wooden seats. "I'm not going to leave them here!" he protested. "You can't just. abandon people like that!" The figure merely stood motionless, its robes disturbed only by the faint wind that crept in from the sea. "As I stated previously, we have no alternative."/i The image of the vicious beach seemed to break up, to shatter to some vibration, and Sonic blinked. Someone was banging at the bedroom door, and, as Sonic's consciousness returned, he heard Amy's voice penetrate the panelling. "Sonic! SONIC?! Wake up!" Sonic groaned and dragged himself up and onto the floor, his vision blurring with the sudden transition from horizontal to vertical. He shuffled towards the door and managed to open it to be confronted with a wide-eyed Amy. "Sonic! What are we going to do?" "What are you talking about?" Sonic asked irritably, his speech less clear than he intended due to the fog still clouding his head. Amy looked bewildered for a second. "Haven't you seen?" As Sonic, equally puzzled, stared back at her, he finally became aware of the sound of lapping water, like that he'd heard in the night, but louder, closer to. He ran over to the window, shoving his head between the drapes, to see the water a few feet below. The street- and, for all it was possible to know, the city- was flooded to a depth of at least two metres. From the secure height of a hill behind the city, Robotnik stared down at the waterlogged streets from the cockpit of his walker. Behind him, the gleaming lines of his remaining squads stood motionless, the gloss on their brightly coloured paint picking up patches of sunlight and reflecting it back. Tearing his gaze away from the liquid stretches that overlay the roads, he relayed the order to move. Grinding along in unison, the badniks began to descend, away from the city. Robotnik followed behind, the metallic feet of the walker tearing into the turf. Before them, the distant stone hulks of the mystic ruins waited. In the impenetrable shadows of the depths, in the submerged caverns far below the waking city, the metal cylinder of the machine no longer shone, all light having vanished with Robotnik's apparatus. Had light still been there, able to penetrate the waters, the construction would have seemed motionless, inactive, until the imaginary watcher extinguished the light, and let the shadows return. Only then would they have understood- and died. As Sonic looked blankly at the water below for a few seconds, footsteps outside the door signalled the arrival of a shaken Tails. "The water's risen up the stairs as well, Sonic- we can't get out!" Sonic managed to tear his mind away from the water, concentrated on Tails' words. "Can't you fly out of here?" Sonic turned round to see Tails looking vaguely apprehensive. "Well, yeah, I could, but what about you and Amy? You can't swim." Sonic began to feel irritated, recognising this as being unreasonable but unable to stop it. "Tails, can't you go and look for a boat or something?" he demanded. Tails looked faintly startled, but nodded. "Ok, I suppose I could try." He replied glumly, and wandered forward to the window. Sonic moved out of the way and watched Tails climb onto the sill, before beginning to whirl his tails around. He pushed off with his feet and rose over the water. Sonic watched until the glare of the overhead sun on the swirling waters obscured Tails' shrinking outline, then sighed wearily and slumped against the wall. "What should we do now, Sonic?" Amy's penetrating voice broke through the haze of tiredness. He looked at her irritably. "I'm going back to sleep." Amy looked as if she were about to reply, then turned and walked out of the room. Sonic collapsed onto the bed, trying to return to the oblivion of dreams. i The figure turned away from the boat and began to walk across the shards noiselessly. "I intend to start moving now. You can follow, or you can remain and nursemaid these two." Sonic glared at its back in frustration as it strode away. After a few seconds, he hopped over the side of the boat and ran to catch up. After all, what choice did he have?/i Tails began to run out of energy, momentarily tired out by the flight. He floated downwards towards the roof of the nearest building, hitting the flat tiles with an impact that wincingly recalled his past injury. He looked around, seeing, as he suspected, nowhere that was even remotely likely to have a boat. "Maybe some kind of board'd do- I suppose Sonic could float on it." As he gazed around, wandering at the lack of people or outcry, he remembered it was still early morning. i Sonic walked silently behind the figure for a while, until curiosity overcame anger to a sufficient extent to allow him to speak. "What exactly is so dangerous about this place?" The words came out as an angry demand for information, but the figure didn't seem to notice or care. "There is. something here. I suppose you could call it some kind of localised spirit." "Yeah? What does that mean?" Anger still edged Sonic's words. "A form of. entity, combined with some kind of spirit of the place itself. It caused the island to be laid waste." "Don't you know anything about this entity thing?" "I know its name." "Yes?" Sonic asked impatiently. When a response failed to emerge, he tried asking directly. "What is its name?" The figure paused for a few seconds, then spoke, almost reluctantly. "Its name. is in some ancient tongue, that people have forgotten how to speak. Only the bare syllables remain, robbed of their meaning. It is known as Rawgar-Kruk."/i 


	21. Chapter 20: Aura

iSonic looked sceptically at the figure. "So, what do we do if we meet this thing?" A short, cynical laugh came from the depths of the hood. "Run away." /i Yet again, Sonic's daze was broken by Amy's frantic voice. "Sonic! SONIC!" "Wha-" he mumbled, and rolled off the bed, landing with a splash. He woke up abruptly. The floor was swimming with water, and Amy was standing in the middle of it, looking panicked. Sonic dragged himself to his feet, water dripping off his spines as they funnelled the liquid from his sodden fur. "The water's risen again." He half-mumbled, trying to fit things together in his sleep-soaked mind. Amy looked at him, wide-eyed with alarm, then burst out. "Sonic? Aren't you going to do anything?" Sonic tried to think, forcing the thoughts through his brain. "We'd better get out of here- the water must still be rising." "How? Tails still isn't back yet." Amy responded, a note of worry rising in her voice. Sonic glanced around the room aimlessly, then stopped as something came together in his head. "The bed- it's made of wood. We can use it to float!" Amy looked at him for a second, then nodded and rushed over to the bed, dumping the sheets and mattress on the floor. She started to drag the wooden frame towards the window, struggling slightly with the weight. Sonic stepped over and took the other end, lifting the bed fully off the ground. They stopped at the window and slid it over the sill. Tails slumped on another roof, his search proving fruitless. "I guess I'll just have to go inside somewhere- I'm not going to find anything by sticking to the rooftops." He concluded glumly. Glancing around, he caught site of the small structure sticking up at one corner, a metal door set into it. "That must lead to the stairs." He wandered over, and tugged at the handle, expecting to find it locked. However, it opened rustily, metal grating across the concrete floor. Shadows clouded the interior, and the steps downward were barely visible, their metal edges catching a fraction of the light that shone outside. Ignoring the metal staircase, Tails whirled his tails round and floated down, only to land in freezing water up to his ankles. "Aah! How's the water reached here?" The inevitable conclusion came to him almost as soon as he spoke. "The water must still be rising- I'd better not spend too long in here." He stepped forward into the shadows, his eyes focusing on the rough shape of the corridor, trying to make out the doorways that must line it ahead. A grating noise and then a sudden clang echoed down as the door at the top of the stairs swung shut, taking what little light there was with it. "What? No!" Tails exclaimed in momentary panic, before realising with relief that it wouldn't have locked. He turned round, trying to trace a path back to the steps. Behind him, the water erupted. The water lapped round the edge of the bed as Sonic stared gloomily at the buildings around them. "Sonic?" "Yes?" Sonic replied irritably. "How are we going to paddle?" Sonic started to speak, stopped, and looked at his gloved fingers. "I'll have to use my hands." He concluded glumly. He sighed and dipped his hands in the water, wincing at the chill as water spread through the fabric. Clenching his fingers into a scooped shape, he began to drag them through the water, slowly pulling the bed forward. Tails spun round instinctively, unable to see but knowing from the sound that something had shot out of the water. There was silence for a few seconds, broken only by the rippling of the water as it settled. Tails tensed, and then began to relax. A faint scraping noise came from behind him, the sound of something dragging against one of the walls. He spun round again and began to shuffle backwards frantically, eyes straining to catch even the slightest flicker of light. The noise of water disturbed came from ahead of him, and another scraping noise, this one continuous. Some unknown bulk was dragging itself through the shallow water. Tails, realising it lay between him and the ladder, backed off for a few more seconds and then, fear getting the better of caution, turned and ran. The scraping noise remained the same, following him, failing to fall behind even a fraction. As Tails ran, desperate beyond all else to distance himself from the sound, he winced in anticipation of what he might run into, blind in the dark inside a corridor that, sooner, or later, must come to an end. The edge of the bed hit the wall of a building with only the slightest of thuds. "Sonic?" Amy's voice broke the silence yet again. "What?" "Where is everyone?" She waved a hand round in a sweeping movement that took in the cityscape around them. "I mean, you'd think that some people would be up by now, that some would be doing something. You'd think someone would have inoticed. /i" Sonic, recognising the sense in her statement, looked around bewilderedly. The rooftops remained deserted. "I. don't know. Could something have happened to them?" and within his mind, a subconscious suspicion rose to light. "iEggman. /i" He snarled. "Sonic?" Amy enquired in faint worry. His reply poured out in a torrent of words. "It must be some new plot of his. He could easily put together some machine to flood the city. He's responsible for this- it's because of him there's no-one around! It must be!" A typical expression of grim determination coming across his face, Sonic tensed, staring at the rooftop. "What are you doing?" Amy asked, her eyes wide with alarm. Sonic looked at her. "Going to find him and trash whatever he's built." Before she had a chance to reply, he shot off from the ground, spinning through the air onto the rooftop. Pausing for a fraction of a second, he leapt again, clearing the gap between two buildings. Running as he landed, he shot off into the distance, out of Amy's sight. Within his newly-constructed base, miles from the flooded city, Robotnik laughed. 


	22. Chapter 21: Outflow

Robotnik's robots stood motionless, awaiting further orders as their master laughed. Unlike any human servants, the idea of which he had dispensed with long ago, they didn't react to his megalomania, ignored his outbreaks of gloating and failed to mentally condemn him to an asylum as humans would have. After a few minutes, his laughing ceased, and he sat upright and began to issue orders. As Tails ran on, his feet throwing up spray from the shallow water, he focused on the sound behind him with the realisation it was getting closer. As he tried to run even faster, the ground suddenly disappeared beneath his feet and he sank into the suddenly deep water. He stuck out with arms and legs, thrashing in panic as he tried to break the surface. Without any warning, his arm went numb. He tried to move it, but with no response. He breathed involuntarily, swallowing water, and felt a sharp tug on the paralysed limb, pulling him down deeper. Tails struggled to swim upwards, but his arm seemed gripped in some force, and he merely felt himself being pulled down further. Black spots flashed against the edges of his eyes as he tried to draw breath, coughing shaking his trapped body as his lungs tried to expel the water. "Sonic!" Amy yelled after his vanishing form. At the expected lack of response she sat down glumly on the bed, rocking it slightly and causing it to bang against the wall again. "I wonder what happened to Tails." she mused, before an unpleasant possibility sprang to the front of her mind. "If Eggman is behind there being no-one around. then he must have used something to get rid of everyone. and maybe it got Tails!" She stood up again, causing the bed to rock violently. "I have to do something!" Judging the distance to the rooftop, she leapt into the air, just managing to clear the wall. Stepping forward, away from the edge, she looked around at the vast number of other buildings slightly protruding above the waters. "Tails could be anywhere around here. TAILS!" Her shout echoed faintly off the surrounding rooftops, but with no reply. A half mile of jumping from roof to roof led to no sight of any metallic structure. Sonic skidded to a stop, trying to think of other possibilities. "Ok, Eggman's base isn't above water, and I trashed the one on the tunnels- I suppose he could have a secret base underwater somewhere, but no way could I swim to it." Staring above the water to the faint line of hills that surrounded the city, another idea occurred to him. "Maybe he built a base outside the city- his machine could be controlling the flooding long range." He tensed both legs and leapt off into the air again, shooting towards the next rooftop. "I'd better check it out!" Robotnik spun round at the crackling of a monitor, warning of something detected. Pressing a control, he stared at the image that appeared in disbelief. "What! How can the spikeball be heading here? My plan has barely even begun!" He paused, an alternative explanation suggesting itself. "Of course! The idiot hedgehog thinks I caused the flooding! But how did he know I was here?" Putting such questions from his mind, he turned, to activate the new defense system. Finally, Sonic saw the last few of the sunken rooftops before him. Beyond them, the rippling waters stretched unbroken for a short distance, until the brush-covered slopes of the hills, containing the flood, rose abruptly from the surface. He screeched to a stop, staring at the slopes from the parapet of a submerged building and judging the distance. He tensed his legs and sprang from the roof, his spinning form clearing the last stretch of water before impacting sharply with the dusty hillside. Sonic stood up to find himself sliding down the steep incline, small lumps of soil, dislodged by his feet, rolling down into the murky water. "Aah!" he yelled, diving forwards onto the slope and scrabbling with his fingers at the soil in an attempt to gain a grip. The dry soil cracked beneath the pressure, ragged grooves appearing in the wake of his grip, but his slide downward continued. Sonic dug at the slope with the toes of his trainers, disregarding the showers of soil this created until his descent stopped, leaving him hanging onto the shallow indents in the disintegrating hillside. Robotnik laughed gleefully at the image his hidden cameras now displayed. "He doesn't stand a chance against my new defence system- the spikeball can't even climb a hill!" He stopped gloating abruptly at the sight of the hillside crumbling again. Sonic began to slide downwards once more, and Robotnik laughed. An entire chunk of dry soil tore away, and Sonic lost his grip completely, rolling down towards the water. Robtnik's laughter had stopped, and he was gazing almost reverently at the screen, savouring the moment. Sonic hit the water, arms windmilling frantically, water spraying across the hillside and spotting the soil with black, before he disappeared below the surface. Robotnik's laughter broke out yet again. Sonic stared up at the surface as air bubbled from his mouth and his feet sought desperately for some surface, something he might jump back up from. He carried on sinking, remembering almost with despair that the hillside was nearly vertical. It was growing harder to hold his breath, as his lungs demanded air he couldn't get. i The figure carried on striding over the razor-edged rocks, stepping easily over ridges, avoiding cracks, and keeping up a fast pace with seeming ease. Sonic, struggling to stay just behind it, often skidded on the strangely smooth surfaces of the rocks, narrowly avoiding hitting the jagged spikes that jutted out from the sides. "What could have happened to this place?" he wondered as he stumbled along. Something other than the wear of wind and water had to have polished the slabs of rock, to have sharpened their edges to blades. Some patches of slabs seemed battered, as if hit by something with enormous force, while most retained their shiny surfaces. As they progressed further from the shard-littered shore, the frequency of the battered rocks seemed to grow higher, whatever caused them to be so having presumably occurred more often. The figure stopped abruptly, holding up one robed arm. "We should proceed carefully here." "Easy enough for you." Sonic muttered inaudibly. "We are drawing nearer to the location where this.entity moves more frequently. It would be best not to attract its attention." On the edge of hearing, a sound hard to distinguish echoed across the rocky waste, all that it was possible to discern being its immense volume./i 


End file.
